The Test of Time, the Story of Archnir
by Lady Hime
Summary: The story of one of Bakal's lesser known dragonoid guardians, Archnir. He discovers a Cannoneer bunny girl creature that came from the future in Empyrean. Will he join her to begin his epic adventures in the world of Arad?
1. Chapter 1: Special

**Chapter 1: Special**

_Why… why did it have to come to this…_ these thoughts streamed through my hazy mind as I ran as fast as I could, tears rolling down my face. _Was it because I didn't train enough? Because I am too weak? None of this would have ever happened if I had just did what I was supposed to… I'm sorry father, for I am not special as you say I am…_I ran as fast as I could through the smoking castle halls, remains of the battle that took place here recently.

I am known as Archnir, the wind dragon. I was supposed to be one of Bakal's guardians, but I am sure I'm not anymore. All my troubles started a week ago, when everything seemed so fine and perfect. But I guess it is when things seem the most perfect, that they fall apart.

Last week I sat on a balcony overlooking the splendor of Empyrean. Bakal had come here and took over the entire country, banning magic. I wasn't too sure about his plan, but who was I to question him; he was king of the dragons after all. My brothers and I were the chosen ones, the ones who would personally guard our father. Actually, he was not really our father, we merely called him that. We were familiars called upon to serve him and serve him we did. As one might have guessed, the Empyreans did not take Bakal's tyranny with welcoming arms and rose up against him a few times. It was my job as well as my brothers to stop them. Bakal stated that we were special, the ones chosen to protect him. I knew Bakal hated those who did not think they were special as he believed that anyone could change the world if they tried and those who never considered themselves special were weak, and could never change anything. I continued to sit there, gazing over the magnificent landscape of Empyrean as a figure walked up behind me. I turned around, facing my eldest brother, Numak.

"Beautiful sight, is it not? Who knew humans could build such marvelous structures." Numak said as he joined me in overlooking the scenery.

Numak was always the calmest of us brothers. He was the most respected dragonoid here next to Bakal due to his kindness and compassionate demeanor. His long golden hair swayed gently in the soft breeze, making him seem almost majestic. "It sure is beautiful. I think it's such a waste to rule over these people." I responded.

"Perhaps, but who are we to judge our father's actions? When was he ever wrong? Surely he has a reason for enslaving these humans." Numak said as he then turned his attention to the sky.

Buildings could be faintly seen poking out from the clouds, as if the sky itself was being skewered. "Bakal came from Pandemonium, didn't he? I have only heard stories of the place; I wonder why he left…" I stated curiously as I joined Numak's gaze into the sky.

"I heard that place is filled with powerful beings, some beings even more powerful than Bakal himself. Hard to believe, right?" Numak responded with a faint smile. As he spoke, a loud crash could be heard and the castle shook slightly. "Oh dear, it seems like Ashcore lost in his training match with Itrenog. Guess it's my job to break them up." Numak moved away from the balcony and retreated back towards the castle. "You should do some training too. We are Bakal's loyal guardians and we cannot afford to be weak."

"Yeah, I know." I stated as I waved Numak off without glancing back. I never really liked training that much; I would much rather take it easy and relax. What could the Empyreans do to us? We had Bakal with us and nobody here was stronger than he was, so what was the point in becoming stronger?

Another loud crash was heard and the castle shook slightly once more. It seems as if Ashcore was really upset this time. Ashcore, the flame dragon, was a loose cannon. He loved flaunting his strength around and trained like crazy, as if it was a drug. He was proud of his strength and was absolutely ruthless in battle. He was the exact opposite of Numak. Itrenog, the green dragon, was another one who loved to flaunt his strength, but unlike Ashcore, he did not spend every waking hour training or picking fights. He took it easy, which is what I wish I could do all the time, but Itrenog is always on my case about training more. No doubt Neiser, the dark dragon, was down there too. He was quiet and spent most of his time alone. He was an outcast compared to the rest of us dragonoids and spent all his time reading. These dragonoids were my older siblings and we all took care of each other, as long as we were not in a sour mood.

After a few loud crashes, Itrenog ran out onto the balcony and grabbed my arm without warning. I soon found myself being dragged along the floor, trying to catch my footing as Itrenog forced me down the halls and stairs of the castle. "What's the big deal with grabbing me like that, I was relaxing!" I complained as I did my best to keep up with Itrenog.

"Just shut up and come with me, Ashcore wants to see you now!" Itrenog stated as he soared down the halls with me in tow.

I gulped as Itrenog spoke. Whenever Ashcore wanted someone, it was never a good sign, especially since he was angry. I prayed that I could somehow find a way to weasel out of this.

Itrenog appeared in the training room and tossed me into the center. I landed on the ground with a loud thud as I got up to my feet and brushed myself off. Numak was here in the room as well as Neiser, standing alone in the corner as usual. Ashcore stood across from me, clearly angry at something. "Archnir! Help me calm down, will you?" Ashcore snarled.

Sweat poured down my face as Ashcore spoke. Me help him calm down? The situation was already looking extremely grim. "B-by doing what exactly..?" I asked, a bit nervous of the oppressive atmosphere Ashcore was setting.

Without answering, Ashcore was on me and attacked. I tried to defend myself, but everything just went black too quickly. The next thing I knew, I was lying flat on my back. I slowly got up, aching all over. I looked up to find my brothers except Ashcore looking down at me.

"Ha! He got back up! I'm surprised you fell so quickly, Archnir! Have you been slacking?" Itrenog observed with a large grin on his face.

"Of course he has. If he had trained and was strong like the rest of us, he would have easily evaded Ashcore. He's like a raging child when he charges." Neiser said in a cold voice, his eyes staring down at me, as if they were piercing through my very flesh.

"My, Archnir… I didn't think your skills were this out of shape. You should ditch that carefree attitude of yours and train more." Numak said with disappointment.

Ashamed, I got up silently and slumped out of the room, I had nothing to say to them. "Hey, Archnir." Ashcore stated as I began to leave. I stopped, not even bothering to glance back. "Thanks for being my punching bag. You helped me let off some steam." Ashcore laughed as my ears digested his words, making me feel weak to the stomach. Without anymore talking, I left the room and retreated to my own quarters.

I sat on my bed, ashamed of myself for being so weak. Did my brothers really look down on me so much? What about Bakal; he surely looked down on me, but then again, why would I still be here? I did not know, nor did I care at the moment, I was far too frustrated. I was only a weakling and a handicap to my brothers. I needed to grow stronger, but I did not really feel like training like Ashcore does every day. Perhaps now was the time to actually whip myself into shape and become stronger so I would not be looked down upon by my brothers. These thoughts floated around my head until I drifted off to sleep.

The next I day I got up and went to the training room. Surprisingly Ashcore was not training since I thought he lived down here. I looked around the place to see what I should try to work on first. The punching bag looked easy enough so I walked over to it. This poor punching bag had to be replaced almost every day as Ashcore always tore it apart on his first punch whenever something upset him; perhaps I should start trying to destroy it on my first punch too. I began smashing my fists into it, hitting it with all my might. The bag merely swayed back and forth and resonated as I hammered it, not the result I was expecting. I kept at it, trying to do my best.

Minutes passed and I was already tired of smashing it. I sat down with my arms aching a little bit. Numak was right, I really do need a lot of training. I could not believe I had let myself grow this weak. I guess I was just too lazy to care, but that will all change here and now. As I got up again, I heard a familiar laugh from the doorway. I froze and turned slowly. I was not surprised as I glanced at the doorway to find Ashcore standing there, smirking at me.

"Well isn't this a surprise! The lazy punching bag finally grew legs and decided to come in here!" Ashcore said as entered the room, smiling. "You and that punching bag there should get along quite nicely since neither of you do much when punches are thrown at you!" Ashcore laughed some more as he walked around the room.

I ignored him and continued smashing the punching bag. I imagined Ashcore's face on it and wailed on it with all my might. Ashcore headed into the basement area of the training room where all our weights were kept. I wanted to go down there too, but I figured I would wait until Ashcore left as he would only mock my weakness. I continued hitting the bag until Itrenog showed up, smiling as usual.

"Ho, if it isn't Archnir! Never expected you to be here!" Itrenog gleefully spoke as he walked over to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "Finally wised up and decided to train, eh?"

I did not respond back as I focused solely on the punching bag. "Ah, I see how it is, too busy to even speak to me, I get it. Well, nice to see you finally training." Itrenog said as he too went to the downstairs training area. Shortly thereafter yells and disagreeing emerged from the downstairs as those two were at it again, fighting over every little thing. Ashcore was certainly such a sore loser.

I tried my best to train all day, venturing to the downstairs whenever Ashcore exited the room. I trained as hard as I could, trying to whip myself into shape. Numak congratulated me on finally taking action while Neiser gave me the same cold stare he gave everyone without uttering a single word. Ashcore poked fun at me whenever he got the chance, while Itrenog encouraged me to keep training and even sparred with me a little, with every time ending with me flat on my aching back. I felt good about training and kept returning each day.

After a couple of days, I felt happy and decided to reward myself with a relaxing day off. Little did I know that once I started relaxing again, I began slipping back into my old habits. Days passed and I did not once return to the training room. I sat on my favorite spot on the balcony, overlooking Empyrean like I always did, wondering why Bakal thought that I was special.

Days passed and that was when it happened, the Empyreans attacked us again, this time with much more force than ever before. It seems as if they had some sort of secret weapon named Gaebolg, which was an astonishingly huge and frightening looking tower of a machine. Not surprisingly Bakal managed to defeat it, while my brothers and I fought off the Empyreans. I was fighting several of them at once with their high-tech war machines and I could not hold them off on my own; I was being beaten to the ground.

I looked around and saw my brothers combating; they were doing so much better than I was, not one of them had a single scratch on them. "Archnir! Get off your lazy butt and fight! Don't let them beat you!" Ashcore called out.

I struggled to get up, but the machines were too strong and I found myself back on the ground again. "Archnir, get up! Stop slacking off and fight! Isn't this the reason why you were training? Stand up and fight back!" Itrenog called out across the battlefield as he easily fended off twice as many machines that had easily overwhelmed me.

I struggled to get back up, but Neiser quickly jumped in front of me and destroyed the machines. He cast a cold stare down at my disgraced form. "You call yourself my brother? No… you even dare call yourself a dragonoid? Get out of here weakling. With that strength, you're neither my brother nor a dragonoid; you're just a weakling who can't even stand on his own feet." Neiser shot at me in his cold voice. As much as I hated to admit it, Neiser was right, I had no right to be called his brother in my pitiful condition.

In due time, the battle ended and the Empyreans were pushed back. The settling dust revealed debris and smoldering pieces of scrap metal that were once machines of battle. I stood among the smoking chaos and sighed deeply. Bakal was nowhere in sight, but my brothers soon found me and approached me. Although I was not really expecting a warm greeting, I did not expect Ashcore to meet me by planting his fist firmly into my face, sending me plummeting towards the ground.

"You pathetic piece of trash! How dare you just stand around and get your sorry ass get kicked while we do all the work here! You're our brother aren't you? If so, then stop being so weak and pathetic!" Ashcore yelled at me furiously as he hoisted me up. He was ready to land another punch on me as Numak grabbed his arm, stopping him.

"Calm down Ashcore. No reason to kill him." Numak said calmly. Numak's voice reassured me. Was he going to stick up for me? He saw that I was trying my best and that was what truly mattered, right?

Those optimistic thoughts fled my mind as Numak glared at me with threatening eyes. "You're pathetic. Must we all stick our necks out for a weakling such as you? You're old enough to fight and win battles by yourself, so why didn't you win any today? We worked hard and won while you stood there, getting beaten by the machines we so easily conquered. If Bakal wouldn't be so irate about it, I wouldn't mind letting Ashcore off you." Numak said.

Numak's words shocked me. He was always so kind, so why was he so cruel now? "Why are you doing this…? I fought hard! I just wasn't strong enough, that's all! I learned from this fight that I just need to be stronger!" I cried out, feeling even more hurt by Numak's words.

"That's the problem, you're a slacker. You'll never get stronger by just resting as much as you do. Actually, it won't matter anyways. You were born weak and no amount of training will ever fix that." Itrenog retorted.

"But father… father said that I was special! Doesn't that mean anything?" I cried out, feeling more and more distraught as I swallowed every word thrown at me.

"So? We're special. I don't care what father says, he's wrong. You're not special. If you were, things would have ended up differently today." Neiser said in his usual cold voice. "You're not special, you're nothing."

I could not take it anymore, I ran away down the smoking corridors of the castle as my brothers drove their furious stares into my back like javelins. "Hmph, I should have saved us the trouble and offed that slacker here and now." Ashcore snorted. "He's going to turn into nothing but trouble one day."

"We shall see. Perhaps this will be the wake-up call he needs." Numak responded as calmness returned to his voice once more.

"Hmph, whatever." Ashcore retorted. He glanced over through a gaping hole in the wall at the exposed red sky. "Hm? Is that another one of their spies?" Ashcore immediately coughed up a fireball at a small object floating in the sky. It hit and the entity and it flew down towards the castle. "Hmph, those Empyreans are getting more and more obvious with those spies of theirs…"

_I'm sorry father, I'm not like my brothers… I'm not special like they are. They're strong and reliable, while I'm just weak and pathetic. You were wrong about me, there's no way in hell I can be special!_My thoughts consumed me and threw me into despair. The only thing I knew now was that I had to keep running, fleeing from this place where I had no purpose.

Just as I ran past a room, a large object crashed through the window of the room and landed with a loud thud. I quickly stopped for a quick second and glanced back at the room. I saw something moving in the settling dust, something small. It was probably another robot spy from the Empyreans. _I should probably finish it off… the only thing I can do with my pitiful existence is to finish off things that can't fight back._I raised my claw, ready to strike at it, when the dust settled revealing a small girl with bunny ears, carrying a rather large gun.

"Damn it, who hit me? The machine is busted, so now what do I do?" The girl cried out. The girl huffed and glanced at me and screamed. "Ah! Enemy!" She aimed her gun at me, but I somehow was faster than her and grabbed the barrel.

"What the..? I've never seen anything like you before. What exactly are you?" I asked curiously as I looked her over.

"Ergh! Let go of my gun! I need it to kill you so you don't kill me!" The girl cried out.

I had never seen anything like this before, it was not an Empyrean spy that was for sure; it was far too noisy to be one. "I promise to not kill you. I just want to know what you are." I said, trying to hold back my tears from earlier.

"You promise?" The girl asked, calming down a bit. She looked me intently in the eye for a few minutes and sighed. "Alright, I won't shot you. You look like a decent individual, for a dragonoid anyways."

As agreed, I let go of her gun and she quickly sat down and sighed deeply. "So, what exactly are you? An Empyrean spy? I haven't seen anything like you before." I asked curiously.

"Of course you haven't seen anything like me! That's because I'm not from here! Well, not exactly… I'm from Empyrean, it's just that I'm not from this time period. I'm from 500 years in the future." The girl said.


	2. Chapter 2: Time Traveler

**Chapter 2: Time-Traveler**

A few days had passed since the huge battle with Gaebolg and I met the strange rabbit girl who claimed to be from the future. I had kept her in my room the past few days since I did not want my brothers, much less Bakal finding out about her. It was not exactly easy keeping her quiet though, she loved to talk and would not give me a moment's rest. She seemed absolutely fascinated about the past and spent most of her time looking out the window, across the Empyrean landscape. Sure, the scenery was gorgeous, but she said she was from Empyrean from the future, so maybe it did not look like this. Perhaps there was some huge war that shattered Empyrean; it was only something that I could merely guess at.

I believed everything this rabbit girl named Kana said to me and I did not have a clue why. It just seemed all too strange to be fictitious, but maybe I was just being gullible. She never really talked much about her timeline and I did not really ask her about it. Perhaps maybe I should ask some questions since I do have a lot of them and it has been mostly her doing the talking lately. I trudged to my room and opened the door only to find Kana looking outside as usual. She quickly turned towards me and smiled as I entered.

"So you're finally back. You like going out on these long walks, don't you?" Kana questioned.

"Like I told you before, I have a life outside this room. I am one of Bakal's guards." I said. I did not like mentioning that I was one of Bakal's guards though, I still felt far too weak and pathetic to be on the same level as some of his other followers. "What about you? Don't you have to get back to your timeline or something?" I wandered over to a nearby chair and slumped down within it, sighing heavily. "You haven't even told me why you're here in this timeline either…"

"I haven't? I thought I mentioned it somewhere down the line." Kana stated, tilting her head, as if trying to go through the thousands of words she blabbered on about over the past couple of days, attempting to remember what she said. "Whoops, I may have forgotten that important detail." Kana rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment.

I sighed and leaned farther back in my chair and closed my eyes. The only reason I didn't really kill Kana was because I was curious about her. I had never seen anything like her and was curious about her reason for time traveling. "So why are you here in the past? What exactly are you looking for?" I asked.

"Well, I was created by some guy named Melvin and he sent me here in order to find the blueprints to the portal for this huge machine called Gaebolg. Surely being one of Bakal's servants, you have heard of it, haven't you?" Kana said.

"Gaebolg..?" The name sounded familiar. I tried to remember where I heard it, when it suddenly clicked, that huge monstrous machine Bakal fought against a few days back, that thing was called Gaebolg. Kana here was looking for the blueprints to its portal? Perhaps Bakal had survived five hundred years into the future and she was sent back here to find Gaebolg in order to kill him in the future! Her question began worrying me a little, I did not want my father to get killed, nor did I want to play a part in his demise. For now, I decided to play it safe and not know anything. "Don't really remember anything about Gaebolg. Why do you want the blueprints for its portal anyways?"

"Well, Melvin said he just wanted it. Guess he was bored and wanted to see Gaebolg himself, he's really into that kind of stuff. Figured while I'm here, I would see what actually happened between the battle of Gaebolg and Bakal." Kana said.

"Then you missed it. The battle occurred right before you came here." I said as I leaned back once more.

"What?! You're kidding, right? I just barely missed the battle!" Kana huffed at the answer and pouted a bit. Her eyes then suddenly perked up and she looked straight at me. "Wait… the battle between Gaebolg and Bakal just happened, right? Then that must mean…" Kana quickly took out her small strange time-traveling device out of her pocket and looked at it with flustered eyes. "Argh, no! This is the wrong time! I traveled way too far back! I was only supposed to travel 500 years, not a thousand!"

My eyes widened at Kana's words. So she was from a thousand years in the future, that far? "Thousand years, huh? That's a long time. Well, good luck finding your blueprints." I got up and walked back to the door. I figured I would not try and find these blueprints. I did not know what she wanted with them exactly, nor did I really want to find out since it would probably only lead to horrible ends.

"You're not helping me look for them?" Kana pouted.

"Why should I? This doesn't concern me. Besides, I have other things I need to do."

"Hmph, fine then, be that way." Kana then glared at me and stared intently at my face. "Wait a second… you said earlier that you didn't know about Gaebolg, yet you clearly knew about the battle… what else do you know..?"

My eyes darted around the room quickly as I tried to think up of an excuse. I did not want to answer her question as it would only lead to bigger and more complicated questions that I did not want to answer in order to protect Bakal. "Um, nothing. Got to go now, bye!" I quickly left the room and closed the door. I sighed as I could hear Kana huffing and muttering from behind the closed door. I needed to talk to someone about this, but who would believe me? I knew just the person in mind as I walked down the hall.

Thoughts of why Kana wanted the blueprints to Gaebolg boggled my mind. Surely it was to defeat Bakal, wasn't it? I walked down the halls of the castle and eventually found myself strolling through Castle Nebulous, the lower reaches of the castle, which was told to extend all the way down to another world below called Arad. I continued walking until a familiar voice called out behind me.

"Unusual to see you down here. Something troubling you?" The voice asked. I turned around to find Captain Petrilisk, one of Bakal's most beloved generals standing behind me.

"Well, there is something…" I said as I kept my eyes fixated on the ground. Whenever something bothered me, I usually talked to Petrilisk since he was the only one who would listen to my problems. My brothers would always make fun of me, or just not care, but Petrilisk was different from them. I do not know why he cared about my problems, but maybe it was perhaps he had a family of his own, which probably made him more understanding.

I told Petrilisk everything that had happened and he listened closely to my words. I even told him about Kana and how she was from one thousand years in the future. I had a sinking feeling that Petrilisk would not believe me and this little story, but what harm was there in telling him? As I finished speaking, Petrilisk studied my face and nodded. "Quite the interesting story you have there." Petrilisk managed to say.

I knew it, he did not believe me. I knew I was too trusting and gullible, which was probably why I was the only one who bought Kana's far-fetched story. "So your dilemma here is that you're not sure if you should help her find the blueprints in fear of Bakal's life, right?" Petrilisk continued.

I shook my head in disbelief. Did he actually believe the story too? I was not the only crazy one here to buy it all? "Well, yeah… I don't know what to do." I stammered.

"Why do you want to help her? She's a complete stranger, is she not?" Petrilisk examined.

"True… but it might not be for Bakal that she wants the blueprints. Could be for something else. I mean, would Bakal even be alive one thousand years from now?"

"Ha, probably not. One thousand years is a long time. I can't even see myself living that long!" Petrilisk laughed a little. "But who knows? It's up to you whether or not you wish to help her."

I was even more conflicted now, should I pry more into Kana's life to figure out what exactly this Melvin wanted with the blueprints? I just did not know what to do anymore and I clearly needed more time to think on the subject matter.

"Looks like it's giving you a hard time." Petrilisk analyzed from my facial expressions.

"Oh… yeah…" I muttered.

"You need to be stronger like your brothers, Archnir. Not just physically, but mentally too. You have a long road ahead of you. You have a huge amount of growth that needs to be done." Petrilisk laughed slightly as he began walking off. "Your adventure is just about to begin my friend. Whichever path you choose, whether it's to help this Kana or not, it will lead to quite the adventure. I look forward to seeing your choice later."

Before I could say another word, Petrilisk had vanished down a flight of stairs and was out of sight. I was not sure of what to do, but I needed to do something. Perhaps I should help Kana find these blueprints. I did not like being mean and cruel like my older brothers, so perhaps Kana visiting was fate trying to steer me in a new exciting course. Petrilisk was right, I may be weak both physically and mentally, but I was sure that if I went with Kana and assisted her, I would grow exponentially, which was exactly what I desired.


	3. Chapter 3: Strength and Weakness

**Chapter 3: Strength and Weakness**

I trekked back to my room and opened the door to find a familiar face, starring straight at me; it was none other than Kana who was sending me dirty looks. I knew what she was thinking about and what was going to be asked without having to hear it. Kana no doubt was going to interrogate me about Gaebolg until I spilled all the information I held. To be honest, I knew nothing of Gaebolg, except what it looked like. I knew some important people within Empyrean had been working on it in order to defeat Bakal, but that evidently did not turn as planned. I walked across the room and sat down in my chair, preparing myself for the eventual question that was written all across Kana's annoyed expression.

"So? You finally going to answer my question about Gaebolg, or are you going to run away again?" Kana demanded.

I knew it and felt like I did not need to respond, but knowing how talkative she was, she was not going to shut up about it until I gave her a legit answer. "Look, I don't know anything about this Gaebolg. All I know is that it was some huge machine that came and destroyed a lot of stuff before Bakal beat it. I haven't a clue where it was sealed or where these blueprints might be." I retorted. A few words then slipped out of my mouth, a few words which I should have never uttered, "Let me guess, this Melvin you talked about wants the blueprints in order to bring back Gaebolg and kill Bakal in the future, right?"

Kana stared blankly at me as I talked. "Huh? Kill Bakal? What are you talking about; he dies five hundred years from now." Kana then quickly clamped her hands over her mouth and glanced shockingly at me, "Oops… you weren't supposed to know about that."

I glared down at Kana as those words escaped her lips. I jumped off my chair and grabbed her tiny shoulders and stared deep into her eyes with my own anger-filled eyes. "What? Bakal dies five hundred years from now? How? How does that happen? He's supposed to be the strongest!" I yelled.

"I don't know!" Kana called out as she hastily tried to pull herself from my grip. "Maybe the Empyreans finally killed him! It was never really clear in the history books on how Bakal actually died!" Kana squirmed in pain. I eased my grip on her shoulders and she ran off into the corner of the room, fearfully glaring at me.

I could not believe her words, my father, the king of the dragons, dies five hundred years from now? That was almost impossible to believe, but I had to take Kana's word for it since she was from the future. I did not know what I was feeling at the moment, I felt angry that Bakal was killed and did not end up dying from natural causes, which I would have guessed would have been his cause of death. Then it dawned on me, was it because I was not strong enough? My rage turned into depression as I looked at my hands; they shook slightly as I held them up. Was it because these hands were not strong enough; was that why Bakal died? Even my brothers could not stop Bakal's death, so what chance did I have? Five hundred years is a long time, but there was no way I could catch up to my brothers' strength in that time. My brothers would only keep training and training, leaving me further behind in the dust. No matter how hard I trained, they were years ahead of me now and would always will be.

I slammed my trembling fists into the ground in anger as these thoughts consumed me. I was not angry at the fact that Bakal was going to be killed, but that I was ultimately going to be the one that could not do anything about his demise. Bakal was going to die and that was that. Who was I to change the future? No matter what Bakal said, I was not special and did not have the ability to change anything.

Kana saw my frustration and walked over to me and placed her small hand on my head, in an attempt to calm me. "Sorry… I shouldn't have said that… that was really stupid of me to say such a thing, seeing how Bakal is so dear to you." Kana stated.

I clenched my fists as teardrops dripped onto my fingers. "I cannot let that happen… Bakal may have died in your future, but he will survive in mine! I need to become stronger! I can't be weak anymore!" I said as I raised my head up to the ceiling, tears still slowly streaming down my cheeks, "From this day forth, I, Archnir the wind dragon, shall not be weak! I will train and surpass my brothers! No more shall I be looked down upon!"

Kana looked at me and smiled. "That's the spirit! Go on, be strong! You can't get anywhere if you're weak!" Kana exclaimed, "I guess I'm worried about the future with Bakal in it, but if you're so determined, then go for it! It's better than moping around. Kana moved away from me and hopped on over to the nearby window, "You seem like you're telling the truth about Gaebolg, so I guess I'll just search for those blueprints on my own. Good luck getting strong though, I support you all the way!"

I wiped the tears from my face as I looked at Kana, standing at the windowsill. As if I could not help it, a small smile spread across my face, Kana was the second one in my life to ever support me in my search for strength. It felt good to have another person who believed in me and knew I could become stronger if I worked harder, "Thank you Kana… I will become stronger." I stated. Perhaps it was fate, like Petrilisk stated that Kana came here, perhaps she was the support I needed in order to whip myself into shape. I waved at Kana as she went through the window and disappeared into the distance.

Years had passed since that fateful resolution and I tried my hardest to attain the strength I desired deeply. With the knowledge of Bakal's end in mind, I gave everything a hundred percent in order to avoid that future. I did not tell my brothers about it, as I believed that if this information ever got out, everyone would think I was crazy. The only one I ever talked to about this was Petrilisk and Kana, as those were the only ones I thought I could trust.

Itrenog was nice enough to encourage me in my training as he spent most of his time actually sparring with me and showing what I needed to do in order to hone my body. We soon learned that I seemed to have an easier time picking up and hurling objects and opponents rather than just outright kicking and punching, so Itrenog forced me to focus on that. Of course, Itrenog was always better than me and beat me every sparring session, but it felt good to finally seriously train with someone who was willing to help me improve. Neiser never really did much to help my training, he mostly stared coldly at me like he did to everyone. Every once in a while he would point out that my style was wrong, or my technique left me wide open and told me to correct it and would continue his piercing glare until I finally managed to fix it myself. In his own strange way, he helped me improve and become stronger.

Numak always congratulated me whenever I managed to do something right and patted me on the back and smiled whenever I nicked him in our sparring sessions. Of course he never went all out, but the fact that I actually managed to hit him slightly was still a vast improvement over what I could previously do. As always, Ashcore made fun and mocked me no matter how hard I tried. I made my goal to be better than him, to become stronger and more powerful than he was and tried my best. Not once did I falter in my training and was thankful that my brothers were actually helping me become stronger. It seemed as if they were finally happy for me that I took the initiative to strengthen myself.

Kana came back at the end of each day and slept in my room. She spent years searching for the blueprints, but never managed to find anything. She was always disappointed whenever she came home, but after talking with me, she always seemed to cheer right up after I relayed stories of us dragonoids and my brothers. She seemed so fascinated with every word I spoke and always bombarded me with as many questions as possible. Despite not finding what she wanted, she at least seemed happy about spending time with me.

Years continued to flit on by until one day Ashcore actually paid a visit to my room. Kana was currently out for the day searching for blueprints as usual when I opened the door for Ashcore. I was nervous standing within his presence and looked at him straight in the eye as he towered within my doorway. I had no idea what he wanted, but since it involved me, it was no doubt terrible. Somewhere in the deep recession of my mind I had hoped that Ashcore came to the stunning realization that I was actually improving and he would congratulate me or say something encouraging for once, but that hope was quickly shattered when his mouth opened.

"So Archnir… what have you been up to in here? I hear a lot of voices coming from your room. Going crazy or something?" Ashcore spoke. Before I could even formulate a response, Ashcore pushed his way into my room and glanced around, carefully analyzing the place, "How long you been doing this? I just noticed it perhaps twenty or so years ago. Got ghosts haunting you?"

I could hear the sarcasm dripping from Ashcore's voice and wished he would just shut up and leave, "Is that all you came in here for? If so, then get out. You don't belong here." I muttered.

"Whoa, is that hostility I hear? Calm down, man. I just want to look around for a bit. These voices every night have been bothering me some." Ashcore looked around some more and opened my desk drawer and took out a small journal, "Oh-ho! What's this we got here?" Ashcore looked over its cover, excitement forming across his face.

Horror jumped up inside me as Ashcore held the journal, that book was my own personal diary that I had been keeping for the longest time. That was the last thing I ever wanted Ashcore to read. I held out my hand and glared at Ashcore sternly, "Give it back, it's mine."

"Well, duh, of course it's yours. I just wanted to take a peek."

"Give it!" I tried to swipe it out of Ashcore's hands as he moved them out of the way.

"Calm down! I just want a little peek, that's all!" Ashcore gleefully announced as he opened it. He was clearly enjoying watching me squirm as he dived into my private life. Just as I feared, laughter erupted from Ashcore as he looked inside, "Ha ha, this is rich! You keep a little diary of yourself? What are you, ten? This is so good!"

I could feel my face reddening with anger as Ashcore continued to flip through the pages, "Here we go! You're talking about some bunny girl from the future here! Is that who you were talking to? Your imaginary bunny girlfriend from the future! Ha ha, I didn't think you were this crazy!" Ashcore continued to jest at my personal logs.

I just could not take it anymore and I lashed out at Ashcore. Caught off-guard, Ashcore stumbled back slightly and looked at me with anger. "Hmph, what makes you think you can just push me around, huh? You know what I think of your stupid little diary?" Ashcore growled.

Much to my horror, flames erupted from Ashcore's hands and engulfed the journal. All my memories and recordings, lost within seconds. Ashcore smiled smugly at me as the ashes caressed his fingers, forming a blackened pile on the ground. Engulfed in ferocity, I charged at Ashcore, but he knocked me back against the wall with a loud crash. "You bastard!" I hollered at Ashcore as I charged at him once more, but the futile result ended the same as it had before.

"Hmph, you want to fight? I'll show you just how worthless your training is! Just give it up, you'll never be as strong as me, or any of us for the matter! We don't need you here brother! We're always going to be ten steps ahead of you no matter how much training you receive! Face it, you're just weak!" Ashcore announced.

The rage within my body suddenly began to disperse as Ashcore spoke to me, he was right. No matter how much I train, I will always be weaker than my brothers. How could I prevent Bakal's death if my stronger, more reliable brothers could not? As hopelessness began to fill me up once more, Neiser came down the hall and looked into my room.

"Ashcore, what are you doing here?" Neiser asked coldly.

"Hmph, giving this little weakling a piece of reality. Honestly, I don't know why you train so hard if the result is only going to be that you're weak. You're just not born special like us I suppose." Ashcore jested.

Ashcore's words hurt and he was right, I was not special. All this time I was only running from the truth, forcing myself to believe the fact that I could stand up strong and become stronger than my brothers to avert the path that would eventually lead to Bakal's death. My brothers were strong and I was weak, that was the truth I just could not see before me.

"Get out of here Ashcore. You have no right to be here." Neiser growled as his cold glare pierced into Ashcore.

"Alright, alright, no need to tell me again." Ashcore said as he finally left.

As Ashcore disappeared out of sight, Neiser looked down at me, his expression never changing, "You have to stand up for yourself, Archnir. It's weakness to just take everything and not fight back, whether it be with words or fists." Neiser said as he walked off as well.

Neiser was right, I needed to stand up for myself, but I could not, it was because I was too weak. Here I was, fooling myself all these years believing that I was finally getting stronger, finally finding my strength, only to have this happen to me. Flustered and confused, I ran off through the castle.

I eventually ran into Castle Nebulous once again where a familiar face greeted me shortly after entering, "Tough times?" Petrilisk asked.

"You can say that again…" I muttered as I sat down on some steps and looked at the wall, which had a large opening revealing the grandiose Empyrean landscape.

Petrilisk walked up behind me and sat down next to me, "What's bothering you? I might have some advice for your troubles." Petrilisk offered.

I told him everything that had just happened and he simply listened in silence, heeding my every word. After I finished, Petrilisk sighed and leaned back against the steps, "It must be tough… I was in a similar position once." Petrilisk began. His words intrigued me a little, so I turned my head to face him and listen, "I never wanted this position here, I just wanted to live a happy life with my family. But Bakal came and I fought. Despite losing in the end, I did so well against his troops that he wanted me to become one of his captains. Naturally I refused, but Bakal was so insistent on it that he took my wife, Mejuria, hostage. He promised that as long as I protected Castle Nebulous here, he would assure the safety of my wife and that no harm would ever befall her. Sure enough I agreed and he kept his word and freed her.

It was because I was weak that I lost my chance at a happy life. But look at me now, I trained for hundreds of years and became stronger and stronger, until I could lead Bakal's troops and defend this castle single-handedly. For some it takes years of practice to become strong, but for others, they have it easier and are just naturally gifted. The path you have is a difficult one, filled with much sorrow and hard work, but I believe that those who have a harder time, get bigger rewards in the end. You are destined for great things. Don't listen to those who say otherwise, they just don't understand and probably never will."

I looked at Petrilisk as his words sunk in. He was absolutely right about everything, I was weak now, but at least I was getting better. I should not listen to Ashcore and just blaze my own path. Petrilisk's words filled me with the determination I needed in order to get up and continue striding towards the future, the future that would allow me to protect Bakal. I stood up and breathed in deeply, "Thank you… there hasn't been a single person as inspiring to me as you have." I said.

In turn, Petrilisk got up and looked straight at me, "Anytime, Archnir. I know it can be tough when everyone is looking down upon you. Even though you're not at a level you're happy with now, I believe that you're plenty tough now and you'll only become stronger and stronger. Trust me, you'll be the strongest, just give it some time." Petrilisk answered.

I looked back at Petrilisk and smiled. I jumped on him and gave him a huge hug before running off back into the castle with Petrilisk waving me off. Bakal may be my father, but Petrilisk was more of a father figure to me than Bakal ever was. He filled me with the hope I needed to keep going. No matter how many times Ashcore put me down, I will never fall again. I was special and no matter how long it takes, I was determined to show everyone just how special I was.

The next day I was filled with renewed hope as I trained as hard as I could in the training room with Itrenog. The day was going smoothly and Petrilisk's words reverberated within my ears, driving me. A loud commotion was heard outside as Numak ran into the training room as Itrenog and I halted training. Numak looked distraught and upset. I had never seen him like this before and worry began to fill my heart.

"Itrenog, Archnir… come up here quick. We were just attacked." Numak said with worry.

Itrenog and I exchanged both worried and confused looks, "Attacked? By Empyreans? What's going on? Is it serious?" Itrenog asked.

"I don't know what exactly happened, but some humans managed to get into Castle Nebulous and decimated our forces there. Whoever did it left and there are no signs of where they come in from or where they vanished off to, but everything is a wreck." Numak said. Numak's next words then shook me to the very core as my heart sank, "Unfortunately Captain Petrilisk was killed within battle."


	4. Chapter 4: Sadness

**Chapter 4: Sadness**

What could I do now? I was at a loss for words and actions. I surveyed the grim scene at Castle Nebulous and rage enveloped me. I cried out, wanting to know who did this, who killed Petrilisk, but my cries were left unanswered as the survivors were non-existent. I continued to lie on my bed, staring blankly at the wall ahead of me with saddened eyes. The anger that was within me earlier had departed, only to be replaced with a great sadness that commanded over my body. Petrilisk was a dear friend of mine, but he is now dead and I could do nothing to stop it. I cursed my weakness, if only I was stronger, then I would have been able to perhaps reach Nebulous in time and prevent his demise. Who was I kidding, I could never do that, if my brothers could not do anything to prevent this assault, then how could I? There was nothing left for me to do now but lie there with my heavy heart.

Hours passed as I did not once move from my spot on the bed as grief was the only emotion that filled me. I desperately wanted to know who the culprits where and how they managed to get in and out of the castle so quickly without a trace. I did swear on one thing, if I ever found who they were, I would make them pay for killing my friend. I knew that I needed to become stronger in order to avenge Petrilisk, as he was stronger than me and even he did not prevail. I greatly wanted to move out of my bed and train in order to improve myself, but this depression had taken me over completely, replacing what should have been determination with misery.

More time passed and Kana eventually made her return from her daily expedition of searching for the blueprints, "Ugh, no such luck today either… man, they really did a good job at hiding these blueprints!" Kana sighed. She looked at me and walked up to me with a worried expression, "Hey, why so glum? What happened?"

My only answer was to turn around and face the wall behind me; Kana did not take this too lightly, "Hey, are you ignoring me? Quit acting so down and talk to me! What happened?" Kana demanded and yet I still did not merit a response, "Hey, answer me! Why are you being so mean?" Kana shook me vigorously, trying to get me to finally speak up.

"Please, leave me alone today…" Were the only words I could muster myself to utter.

Sensing the sadness in my voice, Kana removed her hands and stepped back slightly, "Oh, sorry… bad day, huh?" Kana said. Kana stood there for a few moments and Just as predicted, Kana could not hold her silence for anymore than a few minutes, "Did something happen here? While I was outside, I did see a lot of dragonoids running throughout the castle. Must have been something big."

So she knew something happened. I figured I would tell her since she knew that much and she would keep pestering about it with no regards to my feelings. I turned around once more and faced Kana with my grief-struck eyes, "Early today we were attacked my some unknown assailants. We couldn't catch them, but they managed to decimate some of our forces. Not only that, but one of my closest friends was killed in battle." I bluntly said, trying to not choke on my words.

Kana looked shocked and glanced away quickly, "Sorry… I didn't know…" Kana whispered with a sad tone, "I take it he was dear to you, wasn't he?"

"He was…" I said as my eyes trailed around the room, as if searching for something.

"So what are you going to do now?" Kana inquired, "Surely you're not going to lie in bed all day and do nothing!"

"What can I do? I don't know who these intruders even were. Besides, my friend was stronger than I, how could I possibly hope to do anything against them now?" I responded, finally fixating my attention back onto Kana. It was strange, her cheery attitude was slightly ebbing away the sadness.

"If you don't know who they are, then go out and find them! If they're stronger than you, then get stronger! If he was your best friend, then you would want to avenge him right? How can you possible avenge someone by just lying here, being all depressed?" Kana said as her voice perked up.

"But I-…" I began, but Kana jumped up and down like child, interrupting me.

"No buts! Just get up and do it! Honor your friend's memory by getting up and doing what's right! He wouldn't want you moping around and not trying to avenge him, wouldn't he?" Kana said excitedly as she grabbed my arm and pulled, "Come on, up! Up! No more sitting around! Time to train!"

I sighed as a smile slowly returned to my face. I was lost in despair, but Kana somehow managed to bring my determination and happiness back. I just could not remain sad around her as seeing her energetic movements send signals into my body, forcing me to get off my bed and stand tall above her, "Alright Kana, I've got work to do. But first, some training!" I announced.

"That's it! Get going Archnir! If anyone can avenge him, it's you!" Kana yelled excitedly as I marched out of the room and towards the training room.

Refueled with a new resolve, I promised myself that I would not let anguish take me over again. I swore that whoever killed Petrilisk would pay, as I would be the one to avenge him. Not only would I even the score for him, but I would stop Bakal's death and change the future. I knew I could and now it was just a matter of putting these thoughts to practice.

Hundreds of years had passed as I continued to train harder and harder, not letting anything interfere. My resolution stayed strong as I trained, not once wavering. I trained hard with my brothers, putting all of my best efforts forward. Itrenog, Neiser, and Numak all assisted me in my training, while Ashcore remained a jerk and poked fun at me whenever the chance arose. Despite having all this time, Kana never found her blueprints and as usual began her returns to my room with complaints. I always questioned why she could not just go forward in time to the time period she originally planned, but she would only say that she liked my company and claimed she would die of loneliness. I was also curious as to why she never aged, but she said it was because she could not age, nor die from age, but could be killed by any other natural cause. We always had such interesting conversations and she would always tell me stories of the future while I told her stories of my past. We always had a great time being together, until the fateful day that arrived after five hundred years.

The day began like every other day, peaceful. There were no signs of attack and I decided to rest for the day since I figured one day off would not hurt. It was already mid afternoon when Kana came bursting into my room, with a huge grin on her face, "I found it! I found it! I finally found it!" Kana sang to herself as she danced around the room.

Slightly annoyed that she disturbed my rest by bursting into the room, I got out of my chair and towered over her, "And what exactly did you find that was so important that he had to scare away the silence within this room?" I asked.

Kana looked up at me with a huge smile and shoved a dozen old papers in my face, "I finally found it; the blueprints to the dimension where Gaebolg was stored! Boy, were these blueprints hidden well! Finally found them after five hundred years, about time! Now I can finally return to my own time!" Kana announced as he eagerly took out her time-traveling device and looked it over.

"Alright, time to go back and…" Kana trailed off in mid sentence as she looked up at me, "Oh… I'm going to have to leave you behind, aren't I?" Small tears began to form in her eyes as she looked at me.

"Seems like it. You'll have to take care of yourself, alright?" I said with a smile. I sat down on the floor next to her and looked at her directly in the eyes. I could clearly see the sadness within her shimmering eyes.

"But, but… I'll never see you again!" Kana cried as she jumped on me, hugging me tightly. I was surprised that someone of her size could have such a tight grip. Kana cried heavily as I held her, patting her gently on the back.

"It will be alright, I'll miss you too. Even though you have to leave now, I'm glad I got to meet you. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be where I am today." I said as Kana finally peeled herself off of me.

"You mean it?" Kana wept as she wiped tears from her eyes.

"Of course I do. I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it, right?" I responded with a smile. I was sad to see Kana finally leave after five hundred years, but she did not belong here. I was happy for the fact that she finally found what she was desperately searching for all this time.

"Archnir… can you come with me, please? It will be so lonely without you in my time." Kana said as tears continued to trickle down her reddening cheeks.

"I'm sorry, you know I can't go with you. I got to protect Bakal, remember? He needs me here and I don't just want to leave him to die, like in your time." I stated.

"I know, I know… I'm going to really miss you Archnir…"

"I'm going to miss you too. I'll never forget you Kana." Kana smiled one last time before punching in some numbers in her little device.

Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard somewhere within the castle. Startled, I immediately looked up towards the door to my room and ran over there, swinging it wide open, "What's going on?" Kana asked as she looked up from her device.

"Not sure… but that wasn't an ordinary explosion…" I muttered as I looked around the desolate hallway outside. Another loud outburst was heard and the castle shook, "Just what is going on out here?" I stepped out into the hallway, trying to figure out what was causing all the shaking.

Curious, Kana walked over to me and looked up and down the hallway with a confused look plastered onto her face, "Strange… fireworks maybe?" Kana questioned. Her confused expression was quickly replaced by a look of shock as she quickly looked at her device, "Ah! I should have known! Today is the day!"

"What do you mean by that? What day?" I asked, when it suddenly hit me. I ran and looked outside and saw huge machines rising up against the castle, waging war on the ground. Kana mentioned this, she said this day was called the Machine Revolution; it was the day of Bakal's death.

"I've got to get out of here! I'm going to die if I stay here!" Kana exclaimed as she fiddled around with the device some more, "Archnir, last chance! Sure you don't want to come and keep me company?"

Before I could respond, the castle shook violently and my room and hallway split in two, causing Kana to fall. I quickly rushed over to her and grabbed her as her time-traveling device fell into the rubble below. "No! I need that!" Kana called out desperately.

"Damn, this wasn't supposed to happen!" I growled. I hoisted Kana back up as a huge rock fell from the ceiling and smacked us both in the head, knocking us out.

When we finally came too, the once beautiful Empyrean landscape was turned into a smoking warzone. The gorgeous blue sky was tainted red and black. The air smelt of sulfur and smoldering metal. I looked around and glanced at Kana, who was safe within my arms. It seemed as if she was alright. I heard loud explosions and fighting going on as I sighed with relief. The revolution was still going on, that meant Bakal was still alive and I could still come to his aid. I slowly got up as Kana stirred around, groaning slightly.

"My head… what happened..?" Kana said dazedly as she got up to her feet. She shook her head and looked around, "My device! I hope it's not broken!" Kana quickly dove down into the debris a few stories below and began madly searching for it. Sure enough, she found it and returned back to me and began pressing some numbers in it.

"Now it's finally time for me to return. Good luck to you Archnir, hope you can protect Bakal!" Kana cheered.

Before I could get even a smile in, footsteps were heard loudly running down the broken hallway. Kana heard this and quickly dashed into the remains of my room as a slew of dragonoids came running through the hall, "What's going on here?" I asked worriedly as the dragonoids ran on by.

"Bad news, a group of humans breached the castle and Itrenog was defeated by them! They're currently battling against Neiser, but we fear it isn't going well!" One of the dragonoids said as he ran on by.

_What? Itrenog was killed? Neiser was having a tough time against them? Just who were they fighting? Itrenog is much stronger than me and he was just simply defeated by a group of humans? How could I hope to defend Bakal when even my brothers can't?_ These thoughts began filling up my mind as I stood in shock from the news.

Kana saw me and tugged on my pants, "Archnir… we have to go now. Your brother has fallen, I can't allow you to stay here and get yourself killed! You're my friend, and friends don't let other friends get killed!" Kana yelled out.

"I have to go! I need to protect my father! He's in trouble!" I yelled back at Kana.

"Your brother died, what chance do you think you have against them? Come with me now or die!" Kana yelled back at me.

My mind was flurried, I had no idea what to do anymore. I wanted to protect my father, but I knew Itrenog was much more powerful than me and yet he did not stand a chance against these invaders. I was so conflicted at the moment. I quickly grabbed Kana's arm and out of frustration, I yelled out, "Take me with you, I don't want to die!"

I could not believe the words that just came out of my mouth. Did I really just want to run away from everything? Before I had a chance to think about my words, Kana simply responded, "Alright! Let's go!" Kana pressed her small device and the next thing I knew, everything went black.


	5. Chapter 5: Melvin

**Chapter 5: Melvin**

My eyes were lost in a sea of inky darkness as I tumbled around, trying to find something to grasp onto. I was spinning around and around, losing any sense of direction I might have once had. Eventually light began to slowly come into view as I was catapulted towards it. The light grew brighter and brighter until I had to shield my eyes from its intensity. The next thing I knew, I was sitting next to Kana in a large storage room. I looked around and blinked, trying to observe my surroundings. There were large crates everywhere filled with various pieces of metal; I could not make sense of what this metal was used for.

Kana let out a loud straining groan as she stretched her arms and legs, "Ah, finally back." Kana stated. She looked at me with wide eyes and smiled, "I'm glad you finally decided to come with me Archnir."

I looked down at Kana and smiled back, rubbing her hair and ears slightly. I tried to hide the fact that I was still thinking about what happened right before we left. Was I really thinking about running away? Did I really just run away without even attempting to protect Bakal? The answer was painfully obvious as I was sitting here in the future, knowing full well that I just got up and ran without a fight. I silently cursed myself for my weakness and continued to vow to get stronger and stronger so that I would not run next time. But how could there be a next time, I was already in the future and Bakal was dead.

The moment I snapped back to reality Kana was standing right in front of me, peering into my eyes with a quizzical composition, "Something on your mind?" She questioned.

"Oh, nothing. Don't worry about it." I responded as I quickly averted my gaze. Letting Kana know about how I truly felt would only lead to question upon question and that I did not need.

Kana bought my lie and smiled while grabbing my hands, trying to pull me to my feet, "Then let's lose the long face and get up then! We've got a job to do, remember? I need to find Melvin and give him these blueprints!" Kana cheerfully exclaimed.

I got up to my feet and stumbled slightly as the ride here was a bit discombobulating and my head was slightly spinning. I shook it off in no time and decided to march out with Kana. Despite my thoughts of my own flaw, I was excited to see what exactly this future looked like. Just how much did Empyrean change over the past five hundred years after Bakal's death? I was about to get a first-hand view at just how much had altered.

My thoughts were startled out of my head as the only door to the room opened and a young man stepped in. He wore a white shirt with some yellow and red designs across it. He had a bowl haircut and brown hair, which stuck up a little bit at the back of his head. He wore some sort of strange device on his right wrist; it was black with various green blinking lights. As soon as the man stepped into the room, Kana ran over to the man and hugged his leg enthusiastically.

"Melvin! Man, am I glad to see you! I missed you all these years!" Kana exclaimed.

The man named Melvin looked down at Kana with a smile and rubbed her head slightly, "Ho, you made it back! Glad to see you in one piece! You got what I asked for?" Melvin asked.

Kana let go of his leg and shoved her hand into her pocket and pulled out several documents and shoved them into Melvin's face, "Here they are! I better get something good for this! It took me five hundred years to find them!" Kana said with an exceedingly large grin.

"Five hundred years? Good God that's a long time. Hm, never thought one of my creations would turn out older than me… especially since I created you only a year ago!" Melvin's happy gaze then turned towards me and his smile quickly faded as he looked me over, "Huh? Who are you?" Melvin walked to me and looked me over. He stopped his gaze for a brief second at my tail and horns,

"You… you're a dragonoid, right?" Melvin asked. There was clearly uncertainty and nervousness abound within his voice.

Suddenly a gush of worry flooded my body. Melvin was an Empyrean and the Empyreans were enslaved by Bakal hundreds of years ago. I quickly deduced that the Empyreans probably still held bad blood against us dragonoids for all those years of tyrannical acts. I was a bit afraid to see what Melvin would do next, "Yes… I'm a dragonoid. My name is Archnir."

"Awaaah!" Melvin screamed as he hastily backed up against a nearby wall, his limps quivering within my presence, "Kana! W-why the hell did you bring a dragonoid back with you? He's going to enslave us all!"

Melvin pointed a shaky finger in my direction as he continued stammering, "I know, he forced you to take him to the present with you so he could kidnap me, right? Then he would go back in time and force me to work for Bakal! He would use my intelligence to turn me against my fellow Empyreans! I just know it!"

I sighed at Melvin's words, it was obvious that I was correct earlier; people in this day and age were still bitter about Bakal's reign. I took a small step towards Melvin and extended my hands to my sides, trying to show that I would not harm him, "I'm not here to kidnap you. Kana wanted me to come to the present with her, so I did. Just because I'm one of Bakal's sons doesn't mean I'm pure evil." I said.

I clearly chose the wrong choice of words as Melvin only screamed louder and cowered, "Bakal's sons? He has sons? Kill it Kana! It's going to kill each and every one of us!" Melvin shrieked.

Kana slowly put her hand on Melvin's pants and gave him an annoyed look, "Really? Try acting your age, will you? If Archnir was going to kill us or do anything of the sort, I would not have brought him here. Look, I've known him for five hundred years, I think we can trust him, you know." Kana stated.

"Huh? And who are you to get uppity with me? I made you!" Melvin shot back as it was clear the fear was leaving his body.

"So? I'm older." Kana said defiantly as she crossed her arms.

"I'm smarter!" Melvin retorted.

"I'm cuter!"

"I'm the head scientist of Ghent!"

Kana tried to think of a comeback, but could only come up with stomping her feet into the ground angrily as Melvin apparently won the conversation, "Ha ha, victory is mine once again!" Melvin cheered. His excitement over the conversation victory was short-lived as he glanced over at me again, realizing that I was still in the room.

"Will you please calm down…" I said as I rolled my eyes back, "I promise I won't do anything to you or anyone else. Kana wanted me to come along so I did. I wanted to see the future for myself anyways."

Melvin finally seemed to be cooling off as he approached me cautiously and looked me over once more, "So… you're really a dragonoid? And one of Bakal's sons?" Melvin finally asked after a few minutes of silent observation.

"Like I said, I'm Archnir, the wind dragon."

"Uh-huh. I'm Melvin Richter, the head scientist here at Ghent. As Kana probably informed you, I'm the one that created her."

"She mentioned that a few times."

Melvin's mouth opened to speak, but was interrupted as Kana impatiently stomped her foot into the ground, "Can all this chit-chat wait? I want to go outside! I'm tired of being in this cramped storage room!" Kana whined.

"I never said you had to stay here with me. You can go." Melvin said as he waved his hand towards the door, attempting to shoo Kana out. Kana did not take this too lightly and walked over to Melvin and kicked him in the back of the leg.

"Ow! What was that for?" Melvin yelped as he glared angrily at Kana.

"For being rude! Now let's go! I'm sure Archnir wants to see what future Empyrean looks like, am I right?" Kana asked.

"Uh, sure. I would like to see how much has changed." I said as I managed to walk past Melvin and headed straight towards the door.

"You idiot, you can't bring Archnir outside like this!" Melvin exclaimed angrily as he looked down upon Kana, "Did you forget that he's a dragonoid? If people see a dragonoid walking in plain daylight, they'll shoot him down! They'll blow him up! They'll cut him into a million pieces! They'll…-"

"Whoa, geez, calm down. No need to get so excited over such… gruesome details. You're apparently the smart one here, so how do I hide myself?" I asked. I looked down at my tail and hoped Melvin would not ask me to do something as ridiculous as cut it off.

"Well… we could cut off your tail and horns…" Melvin began. I shot him a sharp glare before letting him continue, "But I guess you wouldn't like that. We could wrap them up in something… here, perhaps this." Melvin looked down and began taking off his sash at his waist.

I averted my gaze and wretched a little bit at Melvin's actions, "Please, you don't have to take your pants off." I stated.

"You'd like that wouldn't you? Too bad I'm not giving you a free show today." Melvin said as he took the sash off. To my relief his pants did not fall to the ground. Melvin walked up to me and wrapped the sash around my forehead, covering my horns completely. He then stepped back and looked me over once more, "Now your tail… I know!"

Melvin wandered around the storage room and eventually held up a long brown cloak and handed it to me while still patting all the dust off it, "This will do. Put it on and let's go. Little miss impatient over there looks like she could explode from boredom any minute now." Melvin said as he nodded his head in the direction of a frowning Kana.

I put the cloak on and walked out of the storage room with both Melvin and Kana and into the streets of Ghent. The view was absolutely breathtaking; I had never seen anything so green and full of life before in all my years. People were milling about the crowded streets and I tried my best not to bump into anyone. I just could not believe my eyes; the view from the street in Ghent was infinitely more beautiful than the view from my balcony back in Bakal's castle. There was just something about actually being part of the capital right now that could never quite compare to the times I overlooked the landscape. I was lost in awe until Melvin grabbed my cloak and pulled me along, trying to get me to move quicker.

We entered another building, which lead into a small dining room. Everything was neatly kept except for a monstrous pile of papers towering over a small desk in the corner. Melvin sat down on the ground with a loud sigh while Kana and I followed suit, "Well, here we are. This is my place. Not much to look at though." Melvin said as he extended his arms, presenting the room.

I glanced all over the room, amazed by everything. This was the first time I was ever in a human residence so everything was so fascinating. Oddly enough, it did not look that much different from my room, my guess was that dragonoids lived similar to humans and we were not all that different besides the obvious physical appearance.

Melvin whipped out the blueprints and studied them circumspectly. After spending some time rummaging through them, he simply handed them back to Kana who took them while giving Melvin a confused look, "Why are you giving them to me? Don't you need them?" Kana asked.

"Nah, I didn't want them." Melvin sighed as fell down onto his back and began to stare at the blank ceiling above, "It was actually a request from someone else to retrieve them… two people to be exact."

Realizing what he just said, Melvin got up and snatched the papers away from Kana and looked them over once more, "Actually, I need a copy. Let me scan it." Melvin said as he walked off with the blueprints. He returned shortly with another set of papers and handed one to Kana.

"So, who exactly needs them?" Kana questioned.

"There's a guy named Kon who wanted the blueprints. He has been bugging me forever about finding them." Melvin said as he splayed himself out on the ground once more, fixating his eyes on the empty ceiling, "Then there's this Empyrean girl down in Arad who wanted them. I would go down and give them to her myself, but I don't really feel like going down to Arad." Melvin lifted his head up slightly to look at Kana, "So I want you to go down and give it to her."

Kana clenched the papers and nodded excitedly. It was clear that she wanted to go down and explore Arad and I figured I might as well as go down with her since I always wanted to see Arad as well. As if he read my mind, Melvin looked at me next and spoke, "And you're going with her. Make sure she doesn't get hurt or lost." Melvin then let his head fall back down again, "Her name is Kiri. Give her the blueprints and talk to Marlene in Arad; she'll get you back up here."

I tilted my head in confusion over Melvin's words, "Marlene? I hope you know who that is, Kana." I said.

"I saw her couple of times so I know her. Don't worry, this will be fun! Like an adventure!" Kana exclaimed, getting more and more excited with each passing moment, "This is so exciting! I can't wait!"  
"Calm down over there, geez. We'll go tomorrow, alright?" Melvin said. Unable to control her excitement, Kana ran out of the room and to the upstairs, I sighed and figured I would follow her.

For the rest of the day, I spent it inside talking with Kana as Melvin vanished the next time I ventured downstairs. She told me more about Empyrean lore and how Empyrean was separated into dozens of islands from Bakal's final death cry and all about the different sections of Empyrean. It was all very fascinating and I enjoyed listening to every word of it.

The day soon passed Melvin woke us both up early the next morning by loudly running into the room and banging on the walls. Kana and I got up and marched to the downstairs and got ourselves ready for our journey to Arad. Soon enough Melvin forced me to wear the ridiculous cloak and sash over my horns as he led both Kana and I outside. There were very few people on the streets this morning, but everything still looked so beautiful, which made me wonder if Empyrean was this beautiful before Bakal invaded.

Kana and I just blindly followed Melvin wherever he was leading us. Neither of us asked any questions as we assumed Melvin knew exactly what he was doing. We reached the edge of a large body of water and Melvin stopped and looked at us, "Alright, since Marlene hasn't returned for whatever reason, you'll be taking the scenic route." Melvin declared, "See this body of water here? Jump and swim down until you come out and fall into Arad, simple as that."

Both Kana and I stared at Melvin with shocked expressions. We were going to jump into the water and fall into Arad? I knew Kana mentioned that the Sky Tower was not around so we could not travel through it. But despite it all, it might be fun to actually fall into Arad. I was the wind dragon after all so gliding down to safety would be a breeze. Kana on the other hand, looked like she was about to die, "We have to jump into Arad? Are you kidding me?" Kana exclaimed.

"It'll be fun. You have Archnir with you, right? That means you'll be safe." Melvin replied with a haphazard smile.

Kana looked at me nervously while I smiled and nodded back to Kana, trying to signal that it was alright. Kana nervously glanced back at Melvin and sighed, "Alright, I guess so… so where exactly is this Kiri in Arad? Any clue?" Kana asked.

"Somewhere in Hendon Myre. You'll probably recognize her once you see her." Melvin stated. He then clapped his hands together and smiled at us both, "Alright, ready to do some diving?"

I sighed and walked to the water's edge and looked down. I bent over for Kana to climb onto my back, "Alright, hang on tight Kana. You ready?" I asked. I heard a small sound of agreement from Kana and I readied myself. This was not only going to be an exciting adventure for the two of us, but it was going to be a quest for strength for me. Perhaps in Arad I can finally dispel my weakness and become as strong as I always desired. Without anything else to lose, I jumped into the water and dove into Arad.


	6. Chapter 6: Arad

**Chapter 6: Arad**

I was falling from the sky towards the ground with incredible speed. I had just fallen through what was called Middle Ocean and had finally emerged into the skies of Arad. As I plummeted towards the ground, I could see a sea of trees below me. It felt so exciting to be falling through the sky, having the wind caress me as I made my descent. Being the wind dragon, it felt like I was one with the wind at the moment; I actually felt like I was at home. But Kana's cries snapped me out of my pleasant daydreams as she clung onto dear life, gripping my cloak so tightly that her knuckles began to turn white. Kana kept screaming and yelling about falling and it was disrupting my moment within the sky.

"We're going to die! I should have never agreed to this!" Kana hollered as tears were being pulled from her eyes. "There's no way I can fly with wind like this! It's impossible!"

"Quiet! Let me do this! I am the wind dragon after all!" I yelled back, trying to raise my voice higher than the sound of the wind whipping past us.

"It's no use, we're done for! Melvin set us up, he just wants us dead!" Kana continued to screech.

"Kana! Hey, Kana!" I continued to try and yell, but Kana kept on weeping about how she was going to end up as a red blotch on the foliage below. I needed to concentrate if we were going to survive and I could not if Kana kept her yelling, "Kana, shut up for a second or else we will die!"

Kana immediately shut her trap and tried to look at me with teary eyes, "Good, now I can concentrate and we can make it down safely! Just hang on and I'll glide us down with no trouble!"

I closed my eyes and began to concentrate. Thoughts of being one with the wind flooded my mind as the sound of the whooshing wind surrounding me filled my ears. I out-stretched my arms and tried to manipulate the air around me, slowing my descent. As I got closer and closer to the trees below, my body seemed to become lighter as the air surrounding me covered me like a blanket and I finally touched the ground.

Still sobbing, Kana jumped off my back and onto the ground and hugged the grass at our feet, clearly overjoyed that she managed to survive the fall. I looked around, trying to take in my current surroundings. I walked up to a nearby tree and placed my hand on its bark; this was the first time I had ever felt a tree. Actually this was my first time seeing so many trees; there were a few in Empyrean, but not like this. It made me wonder if Empyrean had forests like this before Bakal came. I rubbed my hand up and down the rough bark of the tree as I looked at it inquisitively. My thoughts were cut short as I heard some yelling nearby. Kana heard it too as her ears perked up and she surveyed the scene around her. I rushed back over to Kana's side and crouched down next to her, trying to make out whatever was being said. It was faint, but no doubt Kana could hear it clearly with those ears of hers, unless they were just for show.

"Sounds like someone is in trouble. Sounds like a girl." Kana said as she listened intensively, her ears as stiff as the trees surrounding us.

"Can you make out what's being said?" I asked Kana.

Kana shot me a strange look, "Um, hello? I just said it sounded like someone was in trouble, isn't that enough?" Kana remarked. She continued listening for a few more moments before speaking up again, "I hear other voices… not too sure what they are; assailants maybe?"

I was in Arad for no more than five minutes and trouble was already brewing. If someone was in trouble, I could not just sit around and do nothing about it. If I was going to stay here within Arad for a while, I might as well as build a decent reputation. I stood up and ran through the thicket towards the sounds, "Hey, wait for me! I'm not as fast as you!" Kana called after me as she began chasing me.

I ran so fast through the trees, that my cloak and sash wrapped around my horns flew off and were soon lost within the foliage. I was at the scene within a matter of seconds and I decided to hide out in a couple of bushes, trying to figure out what was going on before me. I saw a couple of green humanoid creatures with clubs and swords and a girl dressed within a green shirt and red skirt with silver hair up against some rock pillars. From what I read up upon, I deducted that the green creatures were goblins and thus no match for me. It was clear what I had to do as I stepped into the clearing.

The goblins heard me and quickly made me the center of attention as their scowling faces eyed me angrily. I stood defiantly in front of the goblins and looked them over, "Alright, you going to leave that girl alone or am I going to have to beat you all down?" I asked.

The goblins gave each other wicked smiles before charging at me, screaming and flailing their weapons about. Creatures of this caliber were nothing compared to me and within seconds of charging, they were all knocked down onto the ground, "Hmph, thought as much." I huffed as I walked over to the girl who now stood tall and looked at me curiously. I approached her and extended my hand to her, "Hey, you alright? They didn't hurt you, did they?"

The girl did not answer; instead her eyes seemed to be fixated on me. Her unwavering stare began to make me feel a bit uncomfortable as she looked at me like I was some bizarre unknown entity that she had never seen before, "Erm, girl? You alright? What exactly are you staring at?" I wondered as I turned around just to make sure she was not staring at anything strange behind me.

"Those horns… and that tail… you're not human are you? You're a dragonoid, right?" The girl finally spoke.

Her words startled me, not only did she see past my disguise, but she had at last talked. I looked myself over quick and realized that my cloak and sash were no longer on me, but probably lying on the forest ground somewhere. I was so caught up in trying to see what the commotion was over here that I had forgotten that my disguise fell off along the way. I silently cursed myself for this as I wanted to appear human to everyone else. Kana told me that dragonoids were still looked upon with fear in Arad because Bakal had sent his three most deadly dragons down here. Being seen as a dragonoid could only mean trouble here in Arad and that was the last thing I needed.

I stammered, trying to think up something to say to the girl, but nothing entered my mind, "Yes… I am a dragonoid. But please, don't be afraid, I'm not here to hurt you." I said.

"I know, I don't feel any malice from you… strange, I never met a dragonoid with an aura quite like yours." The girl responded as she looked me in the eyes. It felt like she could see right through me, which made me feel slightly uneasy around her.

"Archnir you idiot! Couldn't you wait for me?" A familiar voice cried out as sure enough, Kana entered the clearing, flying behind me and landed onto the ground next to me. She looked up at me with angry eyes as she pouted, "How dare you run off like that! What if I had gotten lost, huh? What would you do then? Meanie!" Kana gave me a sharp kick in the heel as she continued fuming at me.

Kana then noticed the girl in front of me and she froze as the girl crouched down and looked Kana over curiously, "Oh, she's cute. I've never seen anything like you before." The girl asked as she looked Kana over, "That gun of yours… you both are from Empyrean, right?" The girl glanced up at me for an answer.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." I answered, taken aback by the girl's questions. She seemed to know so much by just merely looking at us. Just who was this girl anyways?

Kana quickly warmed up to the stranger as she walked up to her and smiled, "Hello, my name is Kana! I'm Archnir's buddy! And yes, we did come from Empyrean! Have you been there?" Kana asked brightly.

The girl smiled and chuckled a little at Kana's words, "Oh my, you're quite friendly. No, unfortunately I haven't been to Empyrean; I've stayed in Arad all my life." The girl replied. She then turned her attention towards me once more, "So your name is Archnir? Pleased to meet you, I'm Seria Kirmin." Seria gave me a quick smile as she spoke.

"Ah, pleased to meet you too. Now what were you doing out here all alone like this? Those goblins are probably everywhere; shouldn't you at least have some form of protection?" I asked.

"Oh, I was out here gathering firewood when they ambushed me. It's quite strange, they don't usually hang around this area." Seria commented. Her eyes then suddenly widened as if she had just remembered something, "Oh! I've been gone for too long, Linus must be worried! I need to head back!" Seria quickly ran past me and took off into the forest, but stumbled and fell to the ground.

"Hey, are you alright?" I asked as I walked over to her and tried to help her up.

Seria took my offered hand and stood back up, wiping all the dirt and dust off her, "Thank you Archnir…" Seria said as she looked down at her feet, "Ow, it seems like I sprained my ankle running from those goblins earlier." Seria looked at me and saw my slightly worried expression, "It's perfectly fine though, I'll manage."

As Seria began limping away, Kana shot me a glare and nodded her head towards Seria. I sighed as I walked over to her and stood in front of her, hunched over, offering my back to her. After some feuding, Seria finally agreed and got onto my back and I began carrying her, following her directions on where to go. It seemed as if this forest would never end as it just stretched on and on; it truly was a sea of trees.

As we continued walking and chatting, it seemed Seria was quite a cheerful girl and was quite knowledgeable about this area and Arad itself for that matter. She did not really know much about herself and claimed her memories were missing and the only thing she could remember was that this area she lived in, called Elvenguard, closely resembled where she thought she used to live. She told me all about the area and a man called Linus who has been taking care of her ever since she showed up in Elvenguard. This Linus sounded like quite the man as Seria went on and talked about Linus, who used to be a great swordsman, but now spends his days forging weapons and aiding novices in their swordsmanship.

It was not long until we came across another large clearing with a huge tree in the center with a doorway at its base. As soon as I stepped into the clearing, a knife flew past me and dug itself into a nearby tree. I quickly put Seria down and glared forward, trying to see who the assailant was, "Alright, get your hands off her, you dragonoid!" A brawny man yelled. He appeared middle aged and wore a white shirt and brown apron and had a cigarette sticking out of his mouth. The man angrily approached me with a hammer in one hand and a knife in the other.

Seria quickly jumped off my back and despite her sprained ankle ran over to the man and hugged him, "Linus, please! Don't hurt him!" Seria pleaded.

"Huh? Why? He tried to kidnap you! That's probably all a dragonoid like him would ever do to you!" The man named Linus growled angrily as he prepared to throw his other knife at me.

"Linus, stop this, please!" Seria continued to plead as she grabbed hold of Linus' arm, keeping him from throwing his knife, "This dragonoid saved me. He's not like the others! Trust me!"

Linus looked down at Seria and finally relaxed his arm and looked directly at us, and then back to Seria's pleading eyes, "Alright, if you put it that way. You never steered me wrong before." Linus said as he put his knife back into his pocket. Linus then waved over at us, signaling us to come closer, "Hey, come on over here, it's alright now, I won't hurt you!"

"Hmph, yeah, right! After that stunt you just pulled? I bet you'll wait for us to get closer only to kill us!" Kana defiantly yelled back.

I stepped forward, shocking Kana, "Come Kana, it's perfectly safe now." I said as I began walking forward.

"Wait, what? He just tried to kill you and you just go with him? What is this?" Kana yelled out, clearly confused.

"If you don't like it, you're welcome to stay out here by yourself." I responded as I continued walking forward.

"Erg, don't leave me out here! Fine, I'll go with you!" Kana finally said as she quickly followed me over to Linus and Seria.

We had settled down in the small tree house, sitting around a table, talking to each other. We all introduced ourselves and Linus told us about himself, which was rather useless information since Seria already told us everything. But since he seemed so happy telling us, I figured I would just let him continue, while Kana looked bored out of her mind, slumping over onto the table. I had to smack her on the back a couple of times in order to get her to sit up straight and be polite. It seemed like Melvin never really taught her any manners; but then again, Melvin did not really have any manners himself.

I told Seria and Linus about myself, but decided to keep the part about Bakal a secret since it might raise suspicions. I simply claimed that I was looking for adventure and this man named Melvin had sent me and Kana down here to do a job. Linus seemed to buy it, but despite Seria's laughs, I had a feeling that she could see that there was more to me than what I was telling them.

"So you're off to Hendon Myre to meet up with this Kiri, aren't you? Good luck, Hendon Myre is a big place!" Linus laughed, "Seria, weren't you planning to head into Hendon Myre tomorrow for some errands? Perhaps you can take this guy with you. He doesn't look like he'll be good at finding people. Besides, with you with him, you could help erase any suspicions on him being a dragonoid, right?"

"Indeed. Is it alright if I travel with you to Hendon Myre tomorrow, Archnir? If you're going to be here for a while, I might as well as show you around." Seria said as she sipped some tea.

"I got no qualms with it. It might be fun, right Kana?" I asked as I looked over at Kana, who had once again slumped over the table in boredom. I nudged her until she lifted her head up and looked at me with annoyed eyes, "Want to go on a tour of Hendon Myre tomorrow? Seria agreed to show us around before we try to find Kiri."

Kana perked up at the sound of exploring, "Yes! That would be wonderful! I would love that!" Kana exclaimed happily.

"Heh, it seems like that got her up!" Linus joked.

We spent the rest of the day swapping stories and legends and Seria talked to us a lot about Hendon Myre, trying to fill us in with as much information as possible before we departed tomorrow morning. Kana, never one to sit still for too long, wandered around the forest and enjoyed looking at all the new interesting wildlife and insects Elvenguard had to offer.

Night soon came and Linus was nice enough to give Kana and I rooms for the night. The next morning came and I was up and ready to go, but Kana liked sleeping in and refused to budge. It took some time to finally pry her from the bed sheets and get her outside, ready to explore. Seria was already waiting for us outside as Kana and I exited the house. She smiled at us and began walking off, leading us into Hendon Myre. Before I could move too far from the house, a large tan pot was shoved into my face by some strange man wearing a pot on his head and peculiar green garments, including a cape.

"Come on, buy a pot! You never know what's inside!" The strange pot-wearing man chimed.

"Um, no thanks…" I muttered as I walked away from the strange man, but he was persistent as he followed me, stilling waving the pot in the air.

"Come now, try your luck! Break open a pot, get a weapon! Who knows, you might get a legendary weapon! A weapon far stronger than any you could ever imagine!" The man claimed.

His words captured my attention as I turned towards him and looked him over, "Legendary weapon? Sounds too good to be true…" I said as I stroked my chin in thought.

"Oh, but it isn't! Come on, test your luck! Only ten thousand gold a pot! Why, that's chump change!" The man continued to say.

"Hmph, sounds like a scam to me…" Kana uttered, eying the strange man suspiciously.

"Please Danjin, don't scam him, he's new around here." Seria piped in as she too, was looking at the man apparently named Danjin.

"It's no scam! If you're lucky, you'll pull the weapon of your dreams!" Danjin continued to chant as his strange dance kept going on.

"Archnir, don't mind him. The chances of actually pulling something good out of those pots are nil. Why else would he still be in the luck business?" Seria stated as she grabbed me by my muffler and began pulling me away from Danjin, whose hypnotic dance was enticing me to try and buy one of those pots of his.

Seria and Kana eventually forced my attention away from the strange man and soon enough, we entered Hendon Myre. It was a bustling town, filled with people. Not to my surprise, I was getting lots of weird looks from everyone as they no doubt noticed my horns and tail. I felt nervous walking through crowds of people with them staring at me and mumbling incoherent words. I tried ducking my head low, as if trying to hide from everyone.

"Seria, are you sure it was a good idea for me to come out into the open like this? Everyone is looking at me strange…" I said nervously as the crowd's eyes kept piercing me.

"It's alright, I'm with you. Nothing will go wrong." Seria reassured me. She had a very calming voice, but even so, it was not enough to help ease my nervousness.

The crowd then quickly began to move apart as a single man stepped out, facing us. He wore a strange orange tunic and white headband. He had a sharp face with a scowl imprinted on it. The man had his hands crossed as he directed his gaze directly at me, "You there, dragonoid. You're here to cause trouble, aren't you?" The man demanded in a stern voice.

"N-no, I'm not here to cause any sort of trouble…" I stammered, feeling uneasy at the sound of the man's voice.

"Hmph, unlikely. You are not welcome here, dragonoid and I will personally kick you out. I'm known as Pungjin." The man said as he raised his fists and struck a fighting stance, directed at me, "Your kind is nothing but trouble. Prepare yourself dragonoid."


	7. Chapter 7: Nightmare

**Chapter 7: Nightmare**

I was staring directly at Pungjin, whose stern eyes had not once wavered ever since they locked onto me. I really did not want to fight, but I could not see any alternative as the crowd around us blocked us in, forming an arena ring. Did I really have to fight him here and now? I figured fighting would only worsen my reputation, but then I remembered that dragonoids had a pretty bad reputation to begin with. If there was one thing I hated about Bakal, it was the fact that dragonoids could no longer go about without being discriminated against thanks to his efforts.

"Master Pungjin, please. You don't need to fight Archnir. He didn't do anything wrong. He's not here to cause trouble." Seria said as she stepped forward. I had a feeling that her pleading would not work as well as it did with Linus.

"Yeah, leave Archnir alone! We're here to see someone and that's it!" Kana chimed in, frowning at Pungjin.

"I don't care, history has shown us time and time again that dragonoids bring nothing but trouble. Now come dragonoid, let us fight. I will beat you out of this town." Pungjin stated, his stance not once faltering.

"Hmph, it looks like you won't listen to reason." I finally said as I stepped forward and faced Pungjin with determined eyes, "I'm not here to fight or cause any sort of trouble, I'm simply here to deliver something to a woman named Kiri. But as everything stands now, it seems as if a fight is inevitable. I don't want to fight, but if you leave me no choice…" I struck a fighting pose myself as I glared at Pungjin, "I won't go down easily!"

The crowd of people surrounding us went silent, waiting for us to make our move. It seemed as if everyone was holding their breath, eagerly waiting for the showdown between us to begin. Pungjin was the first to move as he placed his left hand behind his back and pointed his right hand towards me, palm up. Pungjin flicked his fingers a couple of times, signaling that he was ready for my move. As stupid as it probably was, I took the bait and charged forward.

Being the wind dragon, I manipulated the wind slightly around my body, giving me more speed. I figured that Pungjin was only human and would not be able to even keep up with my speed, but I still had to be careful. I wanted to show these people that even though I was a dragonoid, I did not mean any harm so I could not hurt Pungjin that bad, if at all or else everyone would trust me even less. But I had a feeling that if I did not go all out, I would not stand a chance.

Pungjin saw my charge and as soon as I stepped in front of him, he quickly parried my arms and twisted me around before landing a kick to my stomach, sending me backwards, onto the ground. The crowd began muttering as I quickly rebounded up to my feet. Pungjin simply got back into pose and kept his right hand facing me. To be honest, I had not expected Pungjin to actually parry my attack and fend me off so easily. How could a human be able to keep up with my speed? I knew I was the weakest link compared to my brothers, but my skill surpassed normal human fighting capabilities, so how did he block me? I simply passed it off as a lucky blow as I made my charge once again.

Once again, Pungjin parried my blows and somehow got my back, sending a powerful fist into my mid-back, causing me to topple forward. I quickly caught my balance and was yet again shocked by Pungjin's counter. It was obvious that this man was a warrior and had plenty of training so I thought that perhaps I should not take him lightly anymore.

The noise of the crowd began increasing as Pungjin's second blow landed, cheering him on. However, I could make out a distinct voice among the cheers, "Come on Archnir! Beat him! You can do it!" Kana yelled out, trying to raise her voice above the racket.

I glared at Pungjin as he remained in his calm composure and waved at me to come at him again. I knew I had to be more careful this time, but Pungjin was clearly not going to be the first to launch the attack, so I had to take the initiative. I charged once more, trying my best to be careful. I began striking blows at every which way towards Pungjin, but he seemed to just dodge every single blow. He just seemed to move out of the way right as the blow was about to make contact with him. I just could not understand how he was dodging everything, it was like he could predict my every move and knew how to act accordingly.

"Your fighting style is sloppy. You can never hope to hit me with such amateurish moves." Pungjin finally spoke. It caught me off-guard as Pungjin's fist planted itself into my stomach, causing me to bend over in pain, "You strike fast, but speed is nothing if your opponent can read through your poor techniques." With that, Pungjin landed several blows over my body, knocking me down to the ground.

The crowd cheered loudly as Seria and Kana rushed over to my side as Pungjin towered over me. Everything was starting to go dark, was I really beaten down that badly by a single human? Just what kind of people lived down here in Arad? It was clear that they were much more powerful than those in Empyrean from my experiences. My thoughts began to blur together as my consciousness left me.

I suddenly awoke in a bed as Seria jumped back, surprised as I nearly jumped out of bed. A wet towel fell off my head and into my lap as I sat up, looking around, trying to identify where I was. I did not recognize the place, as it was not Seria's home. Seria was sitting next to me while Kana was at the bottom edge of the bed, looking happy that I finally awoke.

"You're up! Finally!" Kana exclaimed as she jumped onto me and gave me a huge hug. I winced in pain as Kana hugged my bruises.

Seria hastily pulled Kana off of me and forced me to lay back down as she applied the wet towel back to my forehead, "You should continue resting Archnir. He didn't hit you much, but he hit you pretty hard." Seria said worriedly.

"Ugh… where are we? I must have passed out after the fight." I groaned. The wet towel felt good on my forehead as I closed my eyes once again.

"Pungjin was nice enough to let us into his dojo and gave us this room. After your match was over, I explained everything to him. " Seria began to say, but Kana rudely butted in.

"Yeah, he believed our story and said that you were too weak to cause any trouble! He said that we were telling the truth because of how pitiful your fighting skills were!" Kana stated bluntly.

Those words were the last words I needed to hear. I lived all my life hearing I was weak from my brothers and now humans were telling me this too? I sighed at Kana's discouraging words and continued to rest in bed until the door to the room opened and someone entered.

"How is he doing? Better?" The voice asked. I instantly recognized the voice as Pungjin's and I sat up to look at him.

"So, you finally decided to believe me after beating me, is that it?" I asked with an annoyed tone.

"Yes, let's just say that Seria and your little friend here were quite convincing. Your strength also showed that you weren't hiding anything either." Pungjin replied, "It's such a shame to see such fighting potential wasted, so starting later today, I'm going to teach you how to fight properly."

I looked at Pungjin with widened eyes; me, a dragonoid, was going to learn how to fight from a human? If I had someone went back to my time and told my brothers about this, I would be even more of a disgrace to dragonoids. No matter how good he was, I just could not accept Pungjin's training in order to save face, "Sorry, but I have to decline. I'm not that interesting in learning how to fight." I stated.

"That's not an option, I'm going to teach you how to fight and that's final. Besides, your little friend over there was so persistent in getting me to teach you how to fight properly." Pungjin answered as he pointed at Kana who waved excitedly back at me.

I sighed and fell back down onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling. Who else was going to teach me how to fight in this time anyways? Even though I did not like the idea of a human teaching me how to fight, I guess I had no choice. I still wanted to become stronger so that one day I could go back in time and save Bakal and change my history so perhaps now was my chance to finally become stronger. Pungjin was indeed better than me so why not?

"I'll take your silence as a yes. We start in three hours. I will be in the training hall waiting for you." Pungjin said as he made his leave.

Seria continued rubbing the wet towel on my forehead and Kana went on blabbering on how exciting this was going to be and how much stronger I was going to become. Thankfully she was smart enough not to mention anything about Bakal or my true reasons for becoming stronger in front of Seria, but I had a feeling that Seria knew something was up even if she pretended that she did not know.

Three hours went by fast and I walked into the training hall and was greeted by Pungjin, "Ah, you came. You feel like you're ready to do some training?" Pungjin asked, the sternness within his voice still present.

I walked up to Pungjin nervously and nodded my head. I believed I was ready for training, but part of me still did not want to train, "First, your style is sloppy. I need to teach you the very basics again if you wish to improve." Pungjin began as he started to teach me.

The lesson went on for quite some time as Pungjin showed me a variety of techniques and was trying to get a feel of my fighting style. In due time, Pungjin eventually concluded that my moves were very similar to a grappler fighting style and suggested that we work from there. Sure enough, he was right and the grappling style seemed to flow quickly into me. Pungjin started with the very basics of the grappling style as he showed me that grapplers tended to grab opponents and used their opponent's weight against them. He showed me ways to approach my opponents as well as ways to actually throw them to get the maximum impact from the grabs. I found myself quite comfortable with grabbing objects and large pieces of wood shaped into humanoid figures. I never really took this approach towards fighting before and was glad that Pungjin actually introduced me to this way of fighting.

Pungjin kept teaching me so many varieties of actually grabbing and hurling an opponent, like if an opponent approached from a certain angle or if they were a certain weight. Pungjin always stepped in to correct my style if it was wrong and always showed me where my hands needed to be placed on my opponents. I was surprised at the amount of help I was receiving from Pungjin since Itrenog never helped me this much while I trained. It was actually nice to have someone help me improve myself and teach me new styles for a change. I honestly felt that grappling was the perfect style for me since it felt so satisfying to grab onto my opponents and throw them around. I owed all my thanks to Pungjin for his help as he introduced me to this style and I was eager to actually try it out on the battlefield. As much as I hated to admit it, Pungjin knew more than I could possibly imagine about hand-to-hand combat and that he was probably much more powerful than he showed during our little fight earlier.

We concluded our lesson today as Pungjin insisted that we continue tomorrow. Despite feeling like I should actually go out and find Kiri, I did want to stay and learn more about fighting so I agreed. Kana was actually nice enough to bring Seria back to Elvenguard, but much to my surprise, Seria returned later in the day stating that she wanted to be with me a bit longer as she was quite curious about my history. It made me feel a bit uncomfortable since I did not want her prying into my past too much in fear that she would learn that I actually worked under Bakal, but there was nothing I could say against it as Kana had warmed up quickly to Seria. Kana loved talking to her and it seemed Seria loved to listen, which worked out well for the two of them. Kana spent some of her day wandering around Hendon Myre, trying to find where Kiri might be, but to no avail. I was not too surprised that Kana could not find her; it did take her five hundred years to find the blueprints to Gaebolg's dimension.

Pungjin and I continued training into the next day until night began to fall. I was utterly exhausted, but I was learning so much from Pungjin, despite that he always beat me down every time we sparred, "Good job, you're making remarkable progress. I can't remember the last time someone made progress as quickly as you." Pungjin said as we wrapped up our training for the day, "Even after two days, I think you're ready for a test."

Pungjin was going to test me? What exactly was it? I was hoping that this test was not going to be too difficult or take too long. I still had to seek out Kiri and Melvin was probably waiting impatiently for us back in Empyrean, "West of here is a very large forest known as Grand Flores." Pungjin continued on, "Lately, beasts known as taus have been quite destructive lately and we need to stop them. Their leader, Tau King Shauta, resides in the deepest part of Grand Flores known as Grakqarak. We believe if he should fall, the taus will stop their rampage and everything will return to normal."

I remember hearing Seria talk to me about taus, monstrous bull-like creatures that stood on two legs. She said they are common for these parts, but never really started acting up until recently when this strange event called the Devolution happened. I was not too sure on the details of this event, but from what Seria told me, it caused all sorts of strange mutations and various other happenings across all of Arad, "You can head off tomorrow morning. Bring me back Shauta's horn to pass the test. I believe you can handle it with little to no trouble." Pungjin finished. He walked over to the exit of the training hall and opened the door, waiting for me to exit first, "The test shall take no more than a day or two. Your friends can stay here while you complete your test."

After hearing the news of my test, I quickly rushed up to my room where Kana and Seria were residing. I told them of what I had to do, but Kana did not take it lightly, "Are you kidding me? You're going into this Grand Flores for a couple of days to train? What about our job? We still have to find Kiri and give this to her!" Kana exclaimed angrily as she waved the blueprints in the air.

"I know, but I have to do this first. It will help me get stronger." I replied as I sat down on my bed.

"So? We need to find her! I need you to help me! I looked everywhere and I haven't found anyone that might look like her! Melvin said that she was Empyrean and I have yet to see one Empyrean here in Arad! We're already behind schedule due to your training so we need to find her now!" Kana yelled at me, clearly pissed at the fact that I needed to train.

"Listen, you're the one who wanted Pungjin to train me, so you ultimately got me into this! Now calm down, it will only take a couple of days, no big deal. We'll find Kiri when I return and we'll tell Melvin we just had some delays." I replied as I lied down on the bed with my eyes closed.

Kana huffed, but finally agreed and decided that she would go with me into Grand Flores. Seria also wanted to come with me as she claimed she felt some strange energy from the forest and wanted to check it out. I decided to let them come along and hoped that neither of them would slow me down since this was my chance to finally become stronger.

Nighttime was already here and everyone within the dojo was sleeping. I awoke to find myself in a long, large, and dark hallway with no distinct characteristics. I had no idea where I was and I began to worry. I looked around, trying to identify my surroundings, but I could not. Just then I heard voices coming from behind me in the distance. They were loud and I could also hear the sound of battle. I looked behind me to see the hallway begin to glow in the far distance, but the glow began to slowly creep towards me as the voices and the sounds of battle grew louder.

Next thing I knew, I was running, trying to escape whatever was following me. That was when I heard a familiar voice booming through the air; it was Bakal's voice, "Why are you running, Archnir? Don't you want to stay and fight?" The voice echoed throughout the halls.

"I can't fight! If I stay and fight, I'll die! There's no hope for victory back there!" I cried out as I ran as fast as my legs could carry me.

"Ha ha, so you're afraid of death? Is that what's stopping you? Come now, I thought you were better than that. You didn't even try to fight back, you only ran as soon as you had the chance!" The voice continued to taunt me.

"No, that's not true! I-"

"You what? Your brothers stood up and fought even though they probably knew they would fall. They weren't afraid of dying in order to protect what was dear to them, so what about you? You're weak Archnir! You're a coward and nothing can change that!" The voice boomed.

I could feel tears dripping down my cheeks as I continued running, "And here I thought you were special… you're not special, Archnir. Only those who have the power to change the world and believe that they can are special. Instead of trying to change, you just ran and let everything take its course! You're not special! You're weak and you're dead!" A huge dragonoid claw burst out of the ground in front of me and quickly fell on top of me.

"No! I'm not!" I screamed as I suddenly realized that I was sitting in my bed back at the dojo, sitting in a pool of my own sweat. I panicked and looked around, worried that I would have woken up Kana or Seria. Much to my relief, they were both still sound asleep. I looked down at the sheets and let go since I found that I was still gripping them with all my might. I sighed and got out of bed and decided I needed a breath of fresh air. There was no way I could get back to sleep like this.

I stepped outside the dojo and sat down on the ground outside and gazed up at the sky. It was a clear night and I could faintly make out the design of the seal in the sky, which separated Arad from Empyrean. The roads of Hendon Myre were empty and the only light came from the lights of nearby buildings. I sighed and was conflicted as the past still haunted me. All this time I was trying to push the thought of what I did out of my mind, but it seemed as if it returned only in the form of a nightmare, which would trouble me for who knows how long.

"Can't sleep?" Pungjin's voice called out as he exited the dojo and walked over to my side.

I was startled by his sudden appearance, but quickly calmed back down, "Yeah, that's a bit of an understatement…" I replied.

"Something troubling you?" Pungjin asked, his voice still stern, but this time it had a subtle hint of kindness to it.

"Uh, no… nothing's wrong."

"Your lying is as bad as your fighting style when you first came here."

"Oh, ha ha… you saw right through me." I laughed a little, "Pungjin, let me ask you a question… let's say you had a chance to fight in order to protect the thing most dear to you, but if you fought, it was certain that you would die in the process and probably not succeed in protecting it… would it be alright just to run away?"

"That would be shameful. Even if you can't protect whatever was dear to you, then at least you tried your hardest to protect it. If you run, you couldn't even try."

"Oh… what if there was a chance to actually go back in time and change it? A chance so that you could change the outcome and protect what was dear to you instead of running?" I looked eagerly up at Pungjin, wanting to know his answer.

"You can't. What has happened in the past shall stay in the past. There are no re-dos. If one could simply do something and keep going back until it is fixed, then what's the point? We learn from our errors, no matter how grotesque or large they might be. We are fated to walk along a certain path riddled with choices we must make. But the catch is that the path crumbles behind us and we can never return. However depending on the path we take spread out before us, we can fix what has gone wrong instead of simply going back in order to change it. We use the knowledge of what happened in order to better ourselves and set things right." Pungjin turned to me and smiled; this was the first time I ever saw him smile since I came here, "I do hope that has answered your question."

"Yeah, thanks." I replied solemnly as I returned my gaze to the sky.

"Well then, I'm off to rest. You have a big day tomorrow so please try to get some sleep soon." Pungjin said as he returned back to the dojo, leaving me alone once more.

_I have to use my knowledge of what happened to set things right, huh? _I thought to myself as my eyes got lost within the patterns of the seal above.

The next day came quick and I tried my best to get whatever sleep I could. I managed to persuade Pungjin into letting me take Kana and Seria along with me into Grand Flores. We were already all outside, standing in front of a large ominous forest that looked as if it could swallow us whole. The only thing that distracted me from the forest was another strange merchant by the dojo who wore similar clothes to Danjin back in Elvenguard, with the exception that he wore blue and had a blue pot on his head.

"Hey, is that..?" I asked as I pointed towards the strange merchant.

"Hm? No, that's Manjin, one of Danjin's younger brothers. They're all over Arad, selling pots to anyone who wishes to try their luck. I wouldn't buy any if I were you." Seria replied.

I was planning on buying some, but Seria's last words scared the thoughts right out of my mind, "Alright, this is your time." Pungjin announced as he stood tall in front of us, "Your test is to bring back Shauta's horn. I will be eagerly awaiting your return Archnir. Now go out there and show me what I have taught you! Show your strength! Now go… and good luck to you!"

Pungjin's final words gave me some confidence as I turned around and walked with determination right into Grand Flores' thicket along with Kana and Seria by my side.


	8. Chapter 8: Changing Oneself

**Chapter 8: Changing Oneself**

Grand Flores was enormous, much bigger on the inside than the outside. With every step it felt like I was being swallowed by the surrounding trees. The trees were so thick overhead, which cast the entire forest in a blanket of darkness with the occasional beam of sunlight that managed to pierce through the ceiling of foliage above. We had probably been walking for an hour or so with no trouble at all. Seria was on the constant look-out for anything out of the ordinary as she said goblins might be hiding somewhere. Kana stayed close to me, her eyes flitting to and fro, trying to pinpoint any movement within the shrubs. On the other hand, I was acting quite the opposite, staring ahead with a determined glare.

The only thoughts running through my mind were thoughts of becoming stronger so that I could avenge Bakal. I took Pungjin's words to heart and decided going back in time to save Bakal was pointless. Here I am in the future, I made this choice and this choice is here to stay. Pungjin was right in saying that I cannot go back and change my mistakes, that I should just accept them and move forward and find some way to fix what went wrong. I have no idea exactly what I was planning to do, or what exactly I was searching for, but training here in Grand Flores was only the beginning for me. I was hoping this adventure would help show me the path I must take in order to right the wrongs of the past.

My thoughts were cut short as rustling was coming from one of the nearby bushes. Seria and Kana both attentively stared at it with widened eyes, worrying about what might jump out, "We should probably check that out…" Seria obviously pointed out in a slightly worried tone.

"We? Did you just say we? Nope, not doing that. We don't have to do anything." Kana said in a childish tone. She then glanced up at me and pouted, "You. This is your training, so you go check it out."

I wanted to point out how juvenile Kana was acting at the moment, but she freaked yet again as more rustling was heard from the bushes, "Alright, if you're so afraid to check out some rustling bushes, then I guess I will." I sighed as I began walking towards the bushes. To be honest, I was slightly nervous about what might leap out. The path to trying to get to this Shauta creature was no doubt going to be riddled with monsters and goblins since why else would Pungjin just send me in here for the final test of my training?

I stopped a few feet short from the bush and took a deep breath before advancing any farther. Before I could take another step, a strange cat-like creature jumped out of the bushes at me, claws splayed open, ready to tear me apart. I anticipated this and quickly grabbed the creature by its outstretched arms and hurled it into a nearby tree before quickly following up on it and grabbing it by its thin neck. With a swift punch, the creature's limp body fell from my grasp and onto the forest floor.

"Oh, that's a lugaru." Seria said as she suddenly appeared behind me, looking the creature over.

I remember Seria telling me about lugarus the other day. They were cat-like creatures with human-level intelligence. They are vicious beings that will prey on anything they could sink their claws and teeth into. I quickly looked around the area as Seria mentioned that lugarus liked being in packs and if there was one here, there were no doubt others hiding nearby. Sure enough I was right as dozens of lugarus began crawling out of the bushes, slowly slinking towards us.

Kana quickly ran over to Seria and tried to hide herself behind Seria's skirt, "There's so many! What do we do?" Kana asked worriedly.

To make matters worse, tons of goblins came out from the bushes as well, brandishing an assortment of weapons. It seemed to me that these goblins were working with the lugaru, helping them catch meals while the goblins stole the valuables of the unsuspecting prey. "Looks like it's finally time to put my skills to the test." I said with confidence.

It was strange; I did not feel worried or scared facing this overwhelming number of opponents. Perhaps it was because I was more confident in my abilities or perhaps fear had outgrown me. Whatever it was, I was not going to let these small fry lay a single claw on any of us. I remembered the grappler fighting stance that Pungjin taught me and I assumed position. I placed my right foot forward and my left foot back, while placing my right hand forward and left hand back, ready to grab anything that moved in close.

The lugarus and goblins looked eagerly at us, slowly closing in, "Seria, Kana. Leave all of this to me. I'll beat all of them." I said with a smile.

As those words left my lips, a lugaru lunged at me, claws ready to tear my flesh open. As expected, I was faster than the creature and quickly grabbed its arms and delivered a sharp blow to its thin body with my knee. Upon seeing the lugaru fall to the ground, the other lugarus and goblins screamed out and charged at me, thirsty for blood.

Despite the overwhelming amount of foes leaping at me, I fared pretty well against them, grabbing their arms and legs and hurling them at other opponents. It seemed the grappler fighting style was perfect for fighting a large number of enemies as it allowed me to hurl them into other opponents, knocking them down. The lugarus and goblins were no match for my fighting style as I did my best to quickly defeat as many as I could. Unfortunately there were more goblins and lugarus hiding in the nearby bushes and they too, joined the fight. No matter how many I knocked down, they kept on coming, wave after wave.

Seria and Kana stood up against a nearby tree, watching lugarus and goblins being tossed about like ragdolls, "Geez, there's so many! How can Archnir handle them all? Oh, what shall we do?" Kana exclaimed with much worry.

Seria glanced at Kana and eyed the larger gun she was still carrying around, "Kana, can't you fight?" Seria questioned.

"What? Me, fight? With what? I don't-…" Kana's hysterical response was cut short as she too noticed the gun on her hand, "Oh… forgot about that. Better than nothing!" Kana quickly took aim with her gun and fired a bright laser from it, blasting apart a couple of goblins and lugarus. This caught their attention, as some of the lugarus and goblins began approaching Kana and Seria.

Kana kept firing lasers, trying to keep the foes at bay, until I rushed in and quickly took care of them myself, grabbing them by their necks and hurling them into nearby trees, either killing or knocking them unconscious. After fighting a few more, the seemingly endless wave of opponents stopped as their limp bodies littered the forest ground.

"Well, that wasn't too difficult, I must say." I proudly stated, happy at my newfound strength. I could have easily beaten these creatures before encountering Pungjin, but it was nice using the grappling fighting style and actually hurling my opponents around. It was quite different from how I used to fight and much to my surprise, it was a much more effective way to fight.

My victorious thoughts were cut short as I noticed some more rustling in a nearby bush. Kana glanced worriedly at it and aimed her gun directly at it. I quickly raised my hand and placed it on her gun, forcing her to lower it. I walked over to the bush by myself and quickly dove my hand into it, and grabbed whatever was hiding.

Not to my surprise, I yanked out a goblin, but it shocked me to see the goblin was dressed in a tan business coat as well as a small tan fedora hat and a pair of glasses. He had a long white beard and long green ears to go with it. He gripped a small cane tightly within his stubby green fingers as he flailed around within my grip as I held him up by the collar of his coat.

"No, let me go! Please, I won't harm anyone! You want money, right? I'll give you plenty of it if you free me!" The goblin screeched at me, flailing wildly, trying to hit me with his cane.

"What the..? This… is a goblin? I've never seen a goblin dress like this before…" I inquired, very curious about the goblin's appearance.

"Please! Have kindness on me! I'm not like those other goblins! I won't kill you, I swear!" The goblin continued to holler.

"Grubeck? Is that you?" Seria questioned as she looked the strange goblin over.

After hearing what was presumed to be his name, the goblin stopped fidgeting and looked at Seria with wide eyes as he tangled from my hand, "Seria..? Oh my, it is! How good it is to see you! What brings you out here?" Grubeck asked, surprisingly suddenly calm despite the situation he was currently in.

"I could be asking you the same question!" Seria replied. She then looked at me with pleading eyes, "Archnir, you can let this goblin go. He won't harm any of us."

I decided to believe Seria as it was apparent she knew this goblin. Besides, it looked as if this goblin could not fight anyways. I placed the goblin back on his feet, which he then brushed himself off, "You're oddly dressed for a goblin… who are you?" I inquired.

"Hmph, demanding, aren't we? You know, it's only common courtesy to state your name first before asking of others." The goblin stated with a huff.

It felt almost surreal to have a goblin correct my manners, but before I could answer, the goblin continued talking, "In any case, I'm Grubeck, the goblin merchant of Hendon Myre. Pleased to meet you." Grubeck extended his hand, expecting a handshake from me. I obliged and shook his hand.

"I'm Archnir. As you can tell, I'm a dragonoid."

"Dragonoid? Now that's something you don't see every day! You come from Sky Tower?" Grubeck asked with fascination.

"Um, no…" I responded, "It's kind of a long story…" I quickly paused, suddenly registering what Grubeck just said. How did he know about Sky Tower? Does that mean Sky Tower is actually here in Hendon Myre? How did I miss it? "Excuse me, you said something about Sky Tower?"

"Ah, yes! It actually suddenly appeared a few days ago over in West Coast, near Hendon Myre! The first time in years it has ever revealed itself so something must be up! Just figured you came from there since dragonoids reside there." Grubeck responded.

So Sky Tower was here near Hendon Myre. I wanted to visit Sky Tower and hopefully find what I am searching for here in Arad. Since Sky Tower leads all the way up to Empyrean, I figured we could just simply walk up the Sky Tower back to Melvin after dropping what we needed to drop off to Kiri. Maybe the answers I am looking for reside within the tower Bakal's forces used to control. There was only one way to know for sure and after hearing what Grubeck was saying, I definitely wanted to visit Sky Tower and see just how much changed over the past five hundred years.

Kana's annoyed grunts snapped me out of my daydream as I turned around to see her pouting at me, "So, you two just going to chat it up and leave me unnamed? Thanks a lot, I'm only what; your best friend?" Kana angrily stated.

"Ah, I'm sorry… Grubeck, this is my friend Kana. She's from Empyrean." I said.

"Pleased to meet you!" Kana beamed, her annoyed expression suddenly vanishing.

"My, what a strange being you are! Never seen anything quite like you before! There must be some interesting creatures up in Empyrean! I must say, you certainly are cute." Grubeck said with a smile.

Kana blushed at Grubeck's words and chuckled a little. Unfortunately, this was not the time to constantly exchange pleasantries as I still had a mission to carry on, but it seems as if Seria just would not let me speak just yet as she decided to speak up herself, "So what are you doing out here for? I thought you hated the other goblins so why are you with them now?"

"What do you mean? I wasn't with them! I was merely taking a pleasant stroll through the forest when I was suddenly attacked by that roving band of ferocious goblins! I ran for my life and hid here! Luckily enough you guys came and beat them all! I owe you my life!" Grubeck exclaimed happily, bowing a bit before us, "Now what about you, Seria? What's a girl like you doing here? And what about you, Archnir? What could be so interesting here that would attract a dragonoid's attention?"

"Well, I'm Pungjin's disciple and he sent me here to fetch Shauta's horn as part of my training." I replied.

"Ah, finally going after that nasty bugger, aren't we? Good luck to you!" Grubeck stated as he then stared right at Seria, awaiting her answer.

"Well, I sensed some strange energy coming from somewhere in these woods… I don't know what it is, but I want to find out. It seems kind of dangerous." Seria stated.

Hearing Seria say that only piqued my curiosity. I too wanted to know what kind of energy she was feeling from within these woods. But despite being curious, I had a dreadful feeling that I was no doubt going to end up doing battle against whatever Seria was feeling, "Are we going to just stand around and chat? I'm on a mission here and it would be nice if I could complete it as soon as possible." I announced, eager to move on.

"Ah, sorry for taking your time. Time is money after all. Guess I'll be seeing you around Hendon Myre then." Grubeck said as he turned around and began walking off.

"Wait, Grubeck… do you even know how to go back?" Seria asked with worry.

Grubeck stopped in his tracks and thought for a moment before turning around to face us again, "Hrm, good point. I don't really know how to get back and besides, I don't want to run into anymore nasty goblins again." Grubeck said as he then looked straight at me before pointing his cane in my direction, "Besides, you're a strong fellow, aren't you? It's probably best I stay with you! I'm not one for sleeping outdoors, but I guess it beats getting lost and probably killed on my way back to Hendon Myre."

As Grubeck chuckled at his own words, I could not help but smile at his strange sense of humor. I always heard of goblins being uncivilized and dumb, but Grubeck seemed quite intelligent and dignified. He was certainly interesting and I kind of wanted to get to know him more, after all, it is not every day you get to actually have a decent conversation with a goblin.

We continued walking deeper into the forest with Kana pummeling Grubeck with all sorts of strange questions about him and goblins. She asked mostly rude and inconsiderate questions that made me feel embarrassed just hearing her ask them. We encountered more goblins and lugarus throughout our journey, but the result turned out the exact same as it had earlier, with me standing victorious on top their bodies strewn across the ground.

Night was coming fast and we found a nice place to set up camp for the night. As expected, Kana had to complain about sleeping outdoors, but fortunately Seria did not seem to mind at all. Thankfully Seria actually brought some sleeping bags with her as she expected that we would have to end up sleeping within the forest. Grubeck did not seem to mind sleeping outdoors either, but he insisted on sleeping next to me since he was paranoid about goblins attacking and killing him within his sleep. I was skeptical at first since I heard that goblins smelt bad and did not want to go to sleep with goblin stench invading my nostrils. Much to my relief Grubeck actually did not smell like a goblin as he used some sort of cologne. We quickly got to work setting up our sleeping bags and starting a small fire. Sure enough, time passed and Kana and Seria were out rather quickly, sleeping soundly.

I was sitting up in my sleeping bag, staring directly at the crackling fire set before us. Many questions perpetrated my mind, giving me not a moment's rest. I believed Pungjin's words and there had to be something here in the present I could do in order to fix what went wrong. I needed to get stronger so that nothing like that would ever happen again, but was that all I had to do? I had a feeling that fate had something much bigger planned for me and only time would tell.

"Can't sleep?" Grubeck's spoke, starling me. I looked over to my right to find Grubeck sitting upright in his own sleeping bag too, rubbing his eyes, "Guess that makes the two of us. Not used to sleeping outside."

"Ah, I see." I said as my gaze returned to the blazing campfire once more. I needed to stop thinking about all this stuff about fate and whatnot as it was no doubt keeping me up. Since Grubeck was up, perhaps he could help ease my mind, "You mentioned earlier that you run some sort of business in Hendon Myre, right? What do you sell?"

Grubeck gave me a questioning look as if he had never expected me to present him with such an inquiry, "I sell armor. I decided to go into business because I simply hated the goblin life; running around, taking whatever we find, and robbing others. To be honest, I was never a fighter and was looked down by all the other goblins for it." Grubeck replied.

Grubeck's words strangely touched me. He too was so weak that he was looked down upon by others? Perhaps he was more similar to me than I thought, "So you just ran off and started a business in Hendon Myre then?" I asked.

"Indeed. Goblins are an uncivilized bunch and quite frankly, I despise it. We goblins have a horrible reputation thanks to them running about, squabbling like children. By human standards we're looked down upon as being stupid, weak, and unruly. I abhorred how us goblins were portrayed so long ago I decided to change all that. I decided to prove to everyone out there that with the right mindset, goblins can achieve great things. Look at me, I run a very successful business in Hendon Myre! Nobody thought I could do it back then!" Grubeck exclaimed with a small laugh.

"I'm sure everyone was discriminating against you when you first came to town." I mentioned.

"Oh, definitely!" Grubeck replied, "Everyone simply hated my guts because I was a goblin! But despite how they viewed me, I was determined to show them all that I was better than those idiotic goblins running around the forest like ants. What about you? Surely you were discriminated against when you first came into town."

I averted my eyes from Grubeck and looked a bit uneasy, "Well, yes… after what Bakal did all those years ago, I guess people developed a hatred for dragonoids like with goblins." I stated.

"That's correct! Unlike me, you don't hate your kind probably, but that doesn't mean you won't want to change."

"Change? Change into what?" I was unsure what Grubeck meant by his statement.

"Well… into anything you want! You have the power to change the future! We all have the power to change the future! Goblins don't care about their futures so they simply muddle about, minding their own business and nothing changes. Their world doesn't change; our world doesn't change because they don't do anything. But once again, look at me, I got up and changed and as a result, I changed the future ever so slightly by opening a shop! It might be a small insignificant change, but it's a change nonetheless."

Grubeck's words reminded me of Bakal's words, how he would always tell my brothers and me about how we had the power to change the world. Despite being a goblin, words of wisdom poured from Grubeck's mouth and everything began making much more sense. Grubeck was right and it reminded me of what Pungjin said to me the other night. I have to move forward and change. If I do not change, nothing will happen and as Bakal put it, I would not be special. It seemed to me as if everyone was subtly reading my mind and telling me what I needed to do.

Grubeck stretched and yawned loudly before falling back into his sleeping back, "Time for some sleep, I think I'll finally be able to get some rest now. Nice talking with you, Archnir." Grubeck said as he closed his eyes.

"Nice talking to you too, Grubeck." I said as I looked at him. I smiled as it seemed he had already fallen asleep as he began to snore within a matter of seconds.

"Thanks for helping me find my path." Was the last thing I spoke before I lied down in my own sleeping bag and closed my eyes, letting the drowsiness finally over take me.


	9. Chapter 9: The Devolution

**Chapter 9: The Devolution**

The sound of birds chattering overhead forced my eyes to open as I lay within my sleeping bag. The night was quite peaceful and to my relief, nothing disturbed us and everything seemed perfectly fine. I squinted at the ceiling of foliage above me, my eyes slowly adjusting to the light caused by the tiny sunbeams piercing through the thick covering overhead. I sat up and rubbed my eyes and took a quick look around. Grubeck was still sound asleep next to me, but what I saw next caused me to go into a fit of worry; Seria and Kana were gone along with their sleeping bags. Freaking out, I jumped up and circled the area, trying to see where they could have gone. My mind immediately jumped to the worst possible conclusion; were they kidnapped by goblins? If that was true, why did they not touch Grubeck or me? Perhaps they were only after women, but it was still all too odd; something was not right here.

I went over to Grubeck and jostled him around a bit, "Grubeck, wake up! We have an emergency!" I yelled, trying to get Grubeck awake.

Grubeck quickly sat up, his head jerking rapidly around; trying to see what was going on, "Ah! What is it? Someone closing down my business? No, don't do that!" Grubeck exclaimed with fear.

Grubeck's words were not exactly the words I expected to hear from his mouth, but it did not matter as we had important issues at hand, "Its Seria and Kana! They've gone missing!" I stated with great worry, "Their sleeping bags are gone and there's no sign of them anywhere! Come on, get up! Something could have happened to them!" I quickly dragged the reluctant Grubeck to his feet as he was still groggy from being woken up so suddenly.

"Whoa, calm down there. You say Seria and Kana are gone?" Grubeck asked as he too looked around the area, finally dawning on him that indeed everything I was saying was true, "Oh dear… what could have happened to them?"

"Who knows, but we have to find out! We must find them or else they might be in big trouble!" I exclaimed. I was never one to handle such situations with delicate care. It seemed once I started worrying about something, my mind would not let it go and it just kept freaking me out. This was the perfect time for my mind to start blowing everything out of proportion.

"Trouble? What kind of trouble do you think those two have gotten into?" Grubeck asked, but before I could answer, he merely continued, "I know what you're about to say; goblins did this, right? Well, if goblins did do this, then why are we still alive? Surely they would have killed us or at least looted us." Grubeck then pulled a small pouch from his pocket and jangled it about giving off the sound of coins banging into one another, "This is proof that goblins didn't come through here." Grubeck smiled at his words, looking as if he was proud to think of such a good reason.

"But… but why would they leave and pack up without telling us? Something just seems off here." I said, beginning to calm down slowly. It seemed Grubeck's words reassured my mind slightly, but I was still panicking within.

"Don't know, but a lot of strange things have happened in this forest." Grubeck said with a sigh. He looked around and quickly picked up his cane. "If they have gone missing, then we should go search for them, right? Fretting about it will get us nowhere." With that, Grubeck began walking off without me, seeming as if he already knew the direction Seria and Kana went. Without anything else to do, I followed him, hoping this was the right direction.

It was not before long that we came across Kana who was leaning up against a nearby tree with her eyes closed. Fearing the worst, I quickly ran up to her and shook her gently, "Kana! Kana, you awake? Answer me!" I stated, feeling relieved that I could see her breathing. What worried me was that she had some burns on her body. I did not know how she got these and feared for her safety.

Kana heard my voice and opened her eyes, looking at me drearily, "Archnir..? Is that…" Kana muttered. Her eyes suddenly widened as she then realized it was me she was looking at. She quickly jumped up and hugged me, breaking into tears, "Oh, Archnir! I was so scared! I didn't know what was happening!"

"There, there, calm down. Everything is alright now." I calmly spoke, patting Kana on the back as she gripped onto me. I then slowly took her off me and set her on the ground in front of me as I stared into her tear-filled eyes, "What happened? Where's Seria? Tell me everything."

Kana wiped a couple of tears from her eyes and sniffled a little before she decided to speak up, "Well, it was late last night and everyone was asleep. Seria woke up and packed up her bag and began walking away. I didn't know what was going on so I got up and demanded an answer from her! She simply said that she felt strong, strange energy pulsating from within the forest and had to check it out."

Kana paused for a second to take a deep breath before continuing with her explanation, "I didn't want to disturb you guys since you were still sleeping so I decided to just go along with Seria and see where she was going. But we crossed through an area near here and there were lightning bolts everywhere! Huge lightning bolts trying to strike us both down!" Kana outstretched her arms, trying to show just how big these lightning bolts were.

"Wait, lightning bolts? How could there be any lightning in here with no fire? It didn't rain last night either." I interrupted as I looked up at the thick branches hiding the sky, "There's no way lightning could have made it through those branches without starting some sort of massive fire. It just doesn't make any sense!" I was trying to make common sense of what Kana was saying, but it just didn't fit at all. Her words confused me and made me think she was dreaming.

"I'm not lying, there was lightning! It was aimed at us too! I managed to get away and hide, but Seria ran off deeper into the forest! She said she would be fine and I needed to get back to you guys. I tried to make it back, but I was so tired and…" Kana looked over at the tree where I had found her, "I just ended up there." Kana pointed at the tree as if I did not remember where I found her.

"Strange… guess that leaves us no choice but to go after Seria, right Grubeck?" I said as I got up and looked at Grubeck. He seemed as if he was in deep thought, trying to process all of Kana's words, "Grubeck? Something wrong?"

Grubeck quickly glanced up at me and shook his head, "No, nothing is wrong. Let's go find Seria, shall we?" Grubeck said as he began walking past us.

I had a feeling Grubeck knew something on this matter, but was not going to tell us. It did not matter, I did not feel like bothering him with such small details. It was not lightning now and that was all that mattered. I turned my attention towards Kana and smiled, "Don't worry, we'll find Seria and figure out what's going on here. Can you walk? Looks like you were injured." I observed.

"Walk? I fly, remember?" Kana corrected me as she then flew up in the air up to my level, "Besides, nothing hurts. These marks are from when the lightning last night grazed me, nothing serious."

I nodded and quickly ran up ahead past Grubeck, putting myself into the lead with Kana hovering next to me. We walked into a small clearing up ahead when I paused for a moment. Within that very second, I quickly jumped back and a lightning bolt struck where I stood, causing Kana to freak and let out a scream. Were these the lightning bolts Kana was talking about? They had to come from somewhere, but where? I looked around until I spotted a white goblin standing on a rather large mound, wielding a sword.

"What are you intruders doing here? This is my territory! Get out!" The goblin yelled at us while brandishing his sword.

Grubeck stumbled backwards, stammering slightly. I began to wonder whether or not he was okay. If I did not know any better, I would have thought he just saw a ghost the way he eyed the white goblin with utter dismay, "That… that's the legendary albino goblin, lightning Kinoll! Those things are only supposed to appear every hundred years, so why is one appearing now? I heard that an albino goblin was killed a few weeks back so how come there's another one? It just doesn't make sense!" Grubeck stammered.

I did not quite understand what Grubeck was talking about; all I understood was that this goblin here was a freak occurrence and something big was up. It did not matter to me now as I still needed to find Seria. I assumed that this goblin here might have seen her walk by as it probably was the one attacking her and Kana the previous night, "You there, goblin! Have you seen a girl come by here?" I asked. I knew he probably would not answer my question, but it was still worth a shot. If worse comes to worse, I was prepared to beat the answer out of him.

"What's it to you? It doesn't matter anyways since I'll fry you all here!" The goblin yelled at us as a lightning bolt shot down onto my current position.

I was fast enough to dodge the lightning and quickly charge towards the goblin. The goblin fiercely rained lightning down upon me as I charged towards him, but dodging the lightning strikes was simple for someone as quick as me. I managed to get right up close to the goblin and was about to grab him when a lightning bolt struck the ground between us, forcing me to jump back, widening the gap between us. I was wondering how this goblin was raining down lightning until I looked up at the sky. It seemed as if a dark cloud was hovering above our current position and small holes littered the tree branches above where the lightning shot down. I was surprised that nothing caught on fire, but I did not have the liberty to continue questioning how it was possible as the goblin continued his assault of lightning while I continued dodging.

The problem was that there was too much lightning and despite how fast I was, the lightning strikes were faster. I needed something to distract the goblin's attention for a brief second just so I could get up close to him and finally land a blow. As if she could read my mind, Kana shot a laser beam out of her gun directly at the goblin. The goblin dodged and this gave me the time to run up to the goblin and knee him directly in the stomach, forcing him down onto the ground. I smiled at Kana and gave her a thumbs up while I used my left hand to pick up the goblin by his neck.

I stared directly into the goblin's hate-filled eyes and raised my fist so it was on par with the goblin's head, ready to smash it in, "Alright, you're going to tell me where this other girl went. If you don't, I'll smash your ugly face in. Don't even think about summoning lightning on me either, I'll hit you before it even has the chance to hit me." I growled at the goblin, returning his hate-filled stare.

"Damn… the girl ran off that way! That's all I know! Now let me go!" The goblin squealed as he pointed his sword towards a deeper part of the forest, showing us where Seria went.

"Thanks." I said as I dropped the goblin to the ground and began walking off in the direction he pointed out, "Alright guys, come with me."

Grubeck and Kana hastily followed behind me, wanting to get as far away from the goblin as possible. We were soon startled as we heard the goblin's furious voice bellow behind us, "You fools!"

Just then, a lightning bolt rained down on top of me, giving me no time to move out of the way. Surprisingly I did not have to move as Kana pointed her gun upwards above my head, acting as a lightning conductor, nullifying the lightning strike.

I whirled around to face the goblin, his face twisted in surprise and hate. Before the goblin had another chance to unleash lightning upon us, I ran up to him and gave him a swift kick in the chin with my knee, sending him up in the air. As the goblin flew upwards, I grabbed his body and hurled him with all my might onto the ground. The goblin's limp body bounced off the ground and collapsed into a heap. I gave a small snort of satisfaction as I turned around and began walking my course once more.

As I walked past Grubeck, he gave me an astonished look, looking as if he was speechless at what just happened, "You… you flattened Kinoll as if it were nothing! I never knew you were so powerful! That was incredible!" Grubeck excitedly stated. He kept on ranting on how amazing I was until his words began slurring together in an incomprehensible mess due to his astonishment.

"Man, you really impressed him, didn't you?" Kana whispered to me as Grubeck kept raving on about my strength.

"Heh, that's nothing. Even without Pungjin's training I could have taken down that goblin with no trouble." I said with a smile. There was one thing I wanted to ask Grubeck that has been bothering me ever since we encountered that albino goblin. He stated that the goblin being there was an unheard occurrence and I was curious about the subject matter. As much as I hated to interrupt Grubeck's ramblings, I wanted to know, "Excuse me, Grubeck, but I need to ask you something about that goblin."

Grubeck quickly stopped his speech and looked at me curiously, "Eh? What is it?" Grubeck asked.

"You said that the albino goblin only appears once every hundred years… is it that strange of an incident for one to show up more often than a hundred years? I didn't quite understand why you were so shocked back there." I inquired.

"That goblin, the lightning Kinoll, is only supposed to appear once every hundred years and now two of them have appeared in only a few weeks' time. It's only the beginning of strange things happening in Arad… probably all due to the devolution." Grubeck began explaining.

"The devo what? What is that?" Kana questioned.

"Oh, sorry, you guys said you were from Empyrean, didn't you? Well, the devolution is this strange event that occurred about ten years ago here in Arad. It is rumored that all these Apostles from Pandemonium were suddenly transported here and all sorts of strange things began happening. Monsters began acting more violently, unknown beings began resurfacing, and a whole bunch of other various occurrences." Grubeck continued explaining as we walked.

Apostles… I remember hearing them mentioned before from Numak. They were powerful beings that reside in Pandemonium, the huge city in the sky above Empyrean. I also remembered that Bakal was an Apostle, but that was the only Apostle I knew about. So there were other beings as strong as Bakal that had appeared down here in Arad, but why were they here? "These Apostles… why are they here? Who are they? Do you know any of these Apostles?" I asked Grubeck with immense curiosity.

"What, know them personally? Oh, heavens no. They would probably kill me on sight! I heard about this apostle named Sirocco who appeared within the Screaming Cavern in Lorien ten years ago or so… she was killed. Then this other Apostle known as Diregie showed up in North Myre around the same time. I believe Diregie is still around though since nobody can go up there anymore since it's literally a living hell." Grubeck continued.

"So, it's because of the Apostle's immense energy that's causing all these strange happenings, right?" I asked, curious if Bakal ever had the same effect when he entered Empyrean.

"That's what everyone believes. The devolution has completely changed Arad and there's no going back. Arad is an even more dangerous place than it used to be nowadays." Grubeck mumbled.

We continued our journey through the ocean of trees, hoping we could see Seria any moment. After walking for a bit longer, I noticed something quite strange; the temperature was dropping rapidly. It had been nice and warm the past few days so I was led to believe that we were in either spring or summer down here, but now the temperature made it feel like it was winter. I noticed Kana began wrapping her arms around herself, trying to warm up while Grubeck did the same. The cold did not really bother me at all since my skin was tougher than that of a normal human and a temperature drop like this was nothing to me, but I did feel it get cooler.

I began seeing snow up ahead, covering the ground along with snowflakes falling from the sky. I looked up, trying to see where our sunny weather had gone, but a blanket of grey clouds was all I could see past the trees above us. I had never seen anything like this and thought it was simply because of the devolution since Grubeck did state that it caused strange things to happen.

"Ugh, why is it so cold all of a sudden?" Kana complained, shivering a little bit, "And why is there snow here? What is all this?"

"I heard rumors about it, but after seeing all of this, they're probably true." Grubeck stated. Both Kana and I looked at him, expecting an answer, but he did not say anymore beyond those few words. Grubeck eventually looked up at us and remembered that we were not from Arad and he had to enlighten us on the details, "Sorry, what I meant to say was that there is a rumor floating around Hendon Myre that these two mage sisters went into Grand Flores to train when they suddenly became corrupted and starting attacking anyone who got near them. One of them is probably nearby causing all this snow."

I turned my head at Grubeck's words, "Any clue as to what corrupted them?" I asked.

"Nobody knows. Their names were Keraha and Binoche. They just went into the forest and before we knew it, they went mad. We could easily blame the devolution for it, but there has to be a better answer…" Grubeck muttered. He thought for a second before suddenly realizing something, "Wait, that's probably why Seria is in here! She sensed their evil aura and wanted to investigate!"

"Ah, that makes sense." I said as I too started feeling a strange aura ever since the temperature started to drop. It was odd though, the aura was indeed weird to me, but it did not feel evil and it somehow felt peculiarly familiar, like I felt it once before. My thoughts were cut short as we were soon surrounded by tons of blue goblins, grinning and cackling at us.

"Silgaves! Goblins born with frigid powers! I should have known they would be around here!" Grubeck exclaimed with worry as he looked all around us, as if trying to find an opening.

"Ha ha ha! More intruders in my lair?" A female voice boomed over the area. It was no doubt one of the mage sisters Grubeck just mentioned.

I quickly looked around, trying to identify where the voice was coming from, but all I could see was goblins and snow-covered undergrowth. Since the voice stated that we were more intruders that meant that Seria was probably nearby. With this many goblins about, I began worrying about her safety and felt like I needed to find her fast.

Without anything else to do, I struck my fighting pose and glared at the surrounding goblins, "Bring it, we're not afraid of you!" I called out.

"Oh, a brave one! Perhaps we should cool you off a bit… goblins, freeze them all! Don't let them escape like that girl earlier!" The voice rang out.

The voice relieved me of worry after stating that Seria somehow escaped. I had a feeling that she was no doubt nearby and I still needed to find her, but would not be able to with so many goblins on about so I had to clean up a bit first before looking for her.

The goblins began their assault, launching small crystallized spears of ice at us. Grubeck tried his best to dodge while Kana took aim at any goblin nearby and fired. I quickly dashed to any goblin out in the open and tried hurling them into other goblins, knocking multiple ones out in a single blow. I was quick to dodge the spears, but blasts of ice were coming out of nowhere, which I assumed were from the mage sister hiding somewhere. I was quick on my feet, never once getting hit.

I gave a quick nod to Kana, signaling that I was going to run off for a few seconds in an attempt to find Seria if she was still hiding nearby. Much to my luck, I managed to find Seria hiding in some nearby bushes. She screamed slightly as I parted the bushes.

"Hey, it's alright. It's only me." I said with a smile, trying to calm her down.

"Oh, Archnir, it's only you… I thought you were Keraha or a goblin for a second…" Seria said with a gasp of breath. She slowly stood up as I continued to wipe out the nearby goblins.

"Hmph, you're all so very annoying! Why won't you just die like you should?" The voice raged as another blast of ice occurred right next to me, but I promptly dodged it. I looked over into a small clearing and saw a woman floating in mid-air. She wore skimpy blue clothing with a cape and had long black hair. She carried a long wooden staff and odd icicle-looking objects sticking out of a strange head-piece that was attached to both sides of her head. Her eyes shone a light blue with no pupils, but she was definitely glaring at me.

"I am Keraha, ice mage of Grand Flores! I will freeze you all!" The woman boldly stated as she pointed her staff at me.

I knew what was coming and quickly dodged the ice that appeared in my previous position by jumping at her. Surprised that I evaded it, Keraha quickly pointed her staff at me again and I suddenly began slowing down slightly. She evaded my punch, but I also evaded another ice blast she tried to hit me with. She saw what I was doing with the air; that I was slowly manipulating the wind around me to increase my speed and she used her magic to freeze the air around me, slowing me down slightly. It was clever, but even without my wind manipulation, I knew I could still beat her.

I lunged at her once more as she crated yet another ice blast at my position. I manipulated the wind with my hands quickly as I jumped at her and hurled a ball of compressed air at her. Keraha was quick to react and instantly froze the ball of air, but she was not ready for me as I barreled through it and grabbed her right shoulder with my right hand and the left side of her waist with my left hand and hurled her. As I tossed her, she quickly pointed her staff at me and a blast of ice occurred on my right arm.

I flinched slightly as the coldness was intense and stung a little, but I had been through worse. Ashcore used to hit me harder than this, making a little frostbite easy to shake off. Keraha looked shocked as she hit the ground, wondering why I was not crumbling in pain, "You… what are you?" Keraha asked in an annoyed tone as she picked herself up.

"Heh, a little frostbite like this could seriously injured a human… good thing my skin is stronger than a humans so this little amount is nothing for me!" I announced as I brushed all the ice particles off my right arm. I flexed my arm and moved it around a little bit, relieved that it only stung a bit and did not hurt that much to move it.

Keraha looked completely shocked as I easily brushed off all the ice. She quickly pointed her staff at me, trying to hit me again, but I quickly jumped in the air and dove towards her, landing a swift kick into her stomach. Keraha coughed up blood as I planted her into the ground with my right foot. She closed her eyes and her staff fell from her limp fingers as I stepped off of her, "Heh, that was easier than expected." I said proudly.

Now that she was defeated, all the other goblins began scurrying around and ran off into the forest, fleeing for their lives. I turned towards Seria and pointed directly at her, "Now that she's taken care of, I want an explanation. Why did you go running off last night without telling any of us?" I demanded in a stern voice.

Seria looked uneasy from my stern words as she looked away as if ashamed, "I'm sorry… I knew you wanted to go and defeat Shauta as soon as possible so you could finish your training, but I wanted to check this strange energy out. It was in the complete opposite direction from Grakqarak and I didn't want to bother you, so I figured I would just go check it out myself in the night so we could continue heading to Grakqarak in the morning with no detours… guess it didn't work out as planned…" Seria said sadly.

I put my arm down and sighed as I walked over to Seria, "I understand, it's alright. Just don't do that again, okay? I don't mind taking a small detour, you know?" I stated.

"So what about the evil energy? Is it gone now or something?" Kana eagerly asked.

"No, I still feel it… there's another similar energy near Grakqarak. It might be the other sister, Binoche." Seria said.

I guessed we were too far from it, since I did not feel anything from the direction we were heading, but I still felt the strange energy around this area. I merely passed it off as just some lingering residue aura from Keraha. Seria was looking past me at Keraha's direction with curious eyes. I wondered what exactly she was looking at and turned around and glanced at Keraha's body. I then noticed a small grey orb on the ground next to her body that was not there before. Before I could move, Seria quickly ran over to the orb and picked it up, staring curiously at it as she moved it around within her hand.

I walked over to Seria as she crouched down, looking the strange orb over, "What's that? Did it fall from Keraha?" I asked.

Seria got up and continued looking at the orb, "I think so… this orb here is emitting very evil energy… I think this is what I was sensing and what was causing Keraha to go mad." Seria stated.

"Um, could I hold it for a second?" I asked as I held out my hand.

Seria obliged and handed me the orb. It looked slightly glossy and was surprisingly light. It was completely grey and did not have a speck of any other color on it. I turned it over in my hands, wondering what this orb was. Aura was definitely pouring out from the orb and like the feeling I had earlier, it felt strangely familiar. I could not place my finger on it, but I swore I felt an aura similar to it long ago.

"Strange, isn't it? I'd like to check it out more when we arrive back in Hendon Myre." Seria finally spoke after giving me a few moments to look the orb over.

"Yeah, it's strange alright. Know of anyone in Hendon Myre who might know what this thing is?" I asked, holding it up for everyone to see. Grubeck glanced at it, but otherwise stayed away from it, fearing it would corrupt him like the sisters. Kana curiously stared at it, with an odd look on her face, a look I too was expressing. Without her saying a word, I could easily tell that she was thinking that she had felt the aura before too.

"There's an elf running the tavern in Hendon Myre named Siusha. She's good with strange magical auras and such. I'm sure she might know something about this orb." Seria stated.

"Alright, it's settled. We visit Siusha after beating Shauta to learn more about this strange artifact." I said. Kana gave me an annoyed look and I quickly corrected myself, "After I visit Kiri of course…" I then quickly stuffed the grey orb into my pocket.

"Alright, then we don't have a moment to lose! Grakqarak is still quite a distance from here so we should start traveling a bit faster." Seria calmly stated as she walked off with Grubeck in the direction we originally came from.

With each day I spent down here in Arad, more and more interesting tales and events kept occurring around me. I wondered what else I would encounter down here as I quickly followed Seria and Grubeck with Kana closely behind.


	10. Chapter 10: Tau King Shauta

**Chapter 10: Tau King Shauta**

Kana's voice overwhelmed me to the point that I could not hear the sounds of birds or even our own footsteps anymore. A day had passed since our detour with Keraha and ever since the new day began, nothing but complaints escaped Kana's lips. Despite Seria trying to calm her down and talk to her, Kana kept complaining on how far away Grakqarak is. Kana's ramblings began to get on my nerves as we continued trekking through Grand Flores and it did not seem like she would be quiet anytime soon.

"Ugh, Grakqarak is so far! Feels like I have been walking for days!" Kana complained as she slowly flew in the air next to me, keeping up with my brisk pace.

"Um, it's only been a day and you're not really walking…" Seria piped up.

"Then it feels like I've been flying for days! So exhausting…" Kana continued to rant, lowering her head to get the point across that she was tired.

"Alright Kana, we get it. We all know you're tired so quit complaining. It's quite distracting." I stated, feeling a bit vexed at Kana's words. I knew Kana loved to talk, but I never knew she loved to complain so much. If I knew she was going to do nothing but making disgruntled statements, I would have left her with Pungjin.

My thoughts were interrupted as I heard some nearby rustling. I quickly stopped and looked around, trying to pinpoint where the rustling was coming from. Apparently Kana did not notice me as she kept floating forward, griping about everything. Grubeck and Seria saw me and tilted their heads in curiosity, "Something the matter? You see something?" Grubeck curiously asked as he adjusted his glasses slightly.

"Yeah, I thought I heard something…" I said, pausing for a few moments, waiting for whatever was in the undergrowth to jump out at us. I let out a breath of relief as nothing happened and it seemed that the rustling had stopped, "Guess it's nothing. We should continue onwards."

Just as I thought everything was clearing up, dozens of red goblins jumped out of the bushes, giving us their usual wicked smiles. These goblins had small flames dancing around their fingers, which gave me the impression that they had the ability to control fire. Kana quickly looked up and around her, completely awake now that these goblins had us surrounded. As I should have expected, both Seria and Grubeck moved in closer to me, hoping I would be able to protect them once again. I clenched my fists and glared at the goblins. They outnumbered us, but I had confidence that I would be able to take them.

I was getting ready to launch my assault on the goblins when I heard a familiar laugh echo throughout the area; it was the same exact laugh I heard from Keraha. I turned around only to find another woman floating in front of us. She was dressed similar to Keraha, but wore red instead of blue and her eyes shone a ferocious yellow. Like Keraha, she carried a wooden staff within her hands and a cruel smile plastered upon her face. I remember Grubeck mentioned her the other day; she was probably Binoche, Keraha's sister.

"Tremble fools! For I am Binoche of the flame and I will turn you all to ash for trespassing in my territory!" The woman called out to us as flames began to slowly dance around the end of her staff.

I sighed at Binoche's words, I really did not want to fight her as I still wanted to get to where Shauta was so I could beat him and end my training. It looked as if Binoche was not going to give me any choice, so there was only one thing left for me to do. I quickly ran over to Binoche and before she could react, I planted my left fist into the right side of her face, hurling her across the forest floor. Snarling at me, she quickly got up and began hovering above the ground like before. Her menacing eyes glared at me with furious intensity, showing off her anger.

"You..! How dare you! You'll burn for that!" Binoche roared as she pointed her staff at me. A large fireball formed at the tip of her staff and quickly shot towards me. Unflinching, I quickly formed a ball of air with my hands and hurled it at the fire. As soon as the air collided with the fireball, the fireball quickly dissipated as Binoche looked at me with shocked eyes.

Not wasting a single second, I jumped towards Binoche and slammed my right foot into her left side, causing her to fly into a nearby tree, smacking it with a loud thud. The goblins surrounding us kept giving each other worried looks, looking afraid as if Binoche would actually lose. Binoche continued to growl at me as she got back up to her feet. I was quite surprised that she able to still get up after getting hit those two times. Much to her credit, I had to say that she was definitely built of tougher stuff than her sister.

Binoche continued to glower at me as she slowly rose up into the air. Her scowl quickly turned into a wicked smile as she flew higher into the air and pointed her staff straight ahead, far above our heads and fired a few fireballs into the depths of the forest. Kana looked questioningly at the direction of the fireballs and scoffed at what she believed was Binoche's attempt to fight me, "Ha, you idiot! We're down here! You completely missed us!" Kana mocked.

Binoche returned to ground level and continued to smile at me. I had no idea what she was planning and her smile was beginning to make me feel a bit uneasy, "You're much stronger than I thought, so let us settle this later when I'm more prepared." Binoche stated.

Her words surprised me, I half expected her to continue charging at me until I finally beat her into the ground. Even so, I still did not want to let her go since I did not know what sort of trouble she would cause for me if she was allowed to roam free at the moment. It seemed as I had some support as Grubeck kept calling out from behind me, "Finish her! Don't let her escape!"

I knew what I had to do and quickly charged at Binoche. She simply smiled and with a wave of her staff, a huge wall of fire separated us. I stopped right in my tracks, not wanting to singe my body as Binoche quickly vanished from the scene and the goblins scurried off in various directions figuring since Binoche could not beat me, they did not stand a chance. Despite being surrounded by ever so flammable trees, the fire died down quickly and nothing really caught on fire. I was curious about this, but there were a lot of things about this forest I still did not understand and would be probably best to leave it that way.

I sighed and returned back to Grubeck, Seria, and Kana and shook my head slightly at the event that just happened, "Geez, his forest is filled with nothing but people and creatures who want you dead… guess I shouldn't have hoped for this to be a peaceful journey." I commented as I began walking past them, eager to continue marching forward.

"Why didn't you finish her? You should have!" Grubeck stated as he looked at me, then at the area where Binoche fled then quickly at me again with a wild expression.

"Why, what's the point? Did you see how Archnir fought her? She's nothing compared to him! If she appears again, Archnir will beat her with no trouble at all!" Kana gleefully announced, seemingly impressed by my strength.

"It's not that… it's just that it's trouble for her to wander loose around the forest. We don't want another huge fire to happen here…" Seria said timidly as she was the first to begin following me as I walked off.

"Oh, so there was a fire here long ago? Did she cause it?" I asked, curious at Seria's statement.

"Um, no, she didn't. Nobody knows what caused it. It was this huge fire that decimated almost all of Grand Flores and wiped out almost all of the elves. It destroyed our homeland and the once proud capital of the elves was quickly burned down." Seria continued in her timid voice, as if she was afraid to recall such events.

There was one thing she stated that bugged me, "Wait, our homeland? Is there something you're not telling us?" I asked, curious as to what Seria meant by stating that fact.

Seria was taken aback from my words, as if she had no idea what I was talking about, "Wait, what? Did I really say that? Oh, I'm sorry… I don't know why I said that, it just slipped…" Seria mumbled timidly.

"Really now?" I asked suspiciously. Seria definitely knew more than she was telling us and I wanted to know everything. Why did she state 'our' since she was clearly human and not an elf? Seria did say she had amnesia so perhaps it had something to do before she lost her memory. I sighed and continued walking, hoping that everything would become clearer as time went on.

"Well, in any case we should find this Binoche after defeating Shauta so we can prevent another huge fire since you all say it was quite catastrophic!" Kana exclaimed.

Just as Kana finished speaking, a large bull-like creature standing on its hind legs and carrying a huge axe burst through the foliage ahead and charged right at us. I saw the creature hurling itself at us and quickly grabbed it and hurled it several feet away, causing it smash into some large bushes, "Those are taus! We must be close to their base!" Grubeck announced, his voice shaking slightly.

Several more taus came crashing through the foliage and into the area, grunting and brandishing their large axes towards us. They did not hesitate for a second as they swung their axes with great might, trying to cut me down. I dodged the axes with ease and whenever I saw an opening, I took it by grabbing any tau nearby and hurling it at others. There were so many as they kept charging into the area and I was confused on why so many were here. It suddenly dawned on me; the fireballs Binoche fired earlier into the forest were actually a signal for the taus to come over here. She had counted on them to see the fire and charge in our direction.

I did not have time to think now; I needed to concentrate on defeating these taus and defending myself. Much to my horror, I heard one of the taus call out to me, "Stop fighting against us! If you keep fighting, we'll kill your friends here!" I turned towards the direction of the voice with great worry and saw a few taus holding Grubeck, Seria, and Kana with their axes pointed at them.

_Damn, I should have been protecting them and not just fighting for myself!_ I thought angrily to myself as I angrily glared at the taus holding my friends captive.

Grubeck and Seria were compliant with the taus and did not struggle against their captors, but Kana struggled with all her might and tried pointing her gun at them, but they had a firm grip on it. Kana kept hollering at them, but all her words were all in vain as the taus did not seem to care one bit.

"What's your choice? Give up or we'll kill them!" The tau roared at me.

I looked around trying to think of what I could do now in this sort of situation. Only one option came into my mind and I did not hesitate to take it. I jumped up into the tree branches above and ran across them away from the scene, leaving everyone behind. Seria and Kana looked at me with shocked expressions as I left them in the hands of the taus.

_I'm sorry everyone, I'm just not strong enough… if I keep fighting now, you'll only get killed… please forgive me as I must go and think of a plan to rescue you all first._ I thought bitterly to myself as I ran off. I hated the thought of doing something as despicable as running away, but what other choice did I have?

"So you're running away again… when your friends are about to die you just flee." A sinister voice rang throughout my head. It was just like the voice I heard in my nightmares; it was the voice of Bakal.

"Heh, not that I should be surprised or anything. You did run away from me and your brothers after all. You're leaving your friends to die at the hands of your enemies, just like you did with me." Bakal's voice cackled.

"I'm not running! I just need to formulate a plan! Now get out of my head!" I yelled while still charging blindly through the trees.

"You could have taken them and rescued your friends, but you didn't. You're nothing but a weakling Archnir. You'll never be special if you keep running." Bakal's voice continued to taunt me in my head.

I could not take it anymore; I did not want to hear this voice berate me any longer as it was finally starting to get to me. Tears began to slowly swell up within my eyes at the thought of being weak and at the thought of running away. What was I doing? I should not run, but instead I should stand up and fight. Then again, here I was running from everything like I did when I time traveled with Kana. Just as these thoughts began to penetrate into the very fabric of my fragile mind, an unforeseen tree branch popped up out of nowhere and smacked me right in the face, sending me plummeting down to the ground with a loud thud. Everything then began to darken as the voice within my head began to fade off into nothingness.

My consciousness began to return to me as my eyes struggled to open. A huge green blur in front of me began to slowly focus and take the shape of the hundreds of trees surrounding me. A bit dazed, I sat up and scratched my head, wondering what exactly happened.

"Ah, you're finally awake. You've been out for about an hour." A voice said. I quickly turned to my left and saw a man sitting against a log. The man was tanned all over and wore a grey sleeveless shirt, which revealed his large muscles. He had a red cape draped around his shoulders and a large sword attached to his back. The man had dreadlocks pulled into some sort of ponytail and a sly expression on his face.

I glared at the strange man, wondering just who he was and whether or not he was an enemy. The man leaned back on his log and chuckled a little after receiving my glare, "Ha ha, don't worry, I'm not an enemy if that's what you're thinking. I just saw you passed out in the middle of the forest floor and decided to sit here and wait until you came to."

"Who are you?" I asked sternly. I still did not trust this man as he could be lying to me for all I knew.

"I'm Gabriel and I'm a treasure hunter. I wander all across Arad looking for anything of value. What about you?" Gabriel asked as he leaned in closer and looked me over, "You're a dragonoid, right? Quite a long ways away from Sky Tower, aren't you?"

"Erm, actually I didn't come from Sky Tower." I began, but stopped myself shortly. I did not want to reveal so much information to this man I just met.

"Oh really? Where you from then?" Gabriel asked as he continued to look me over inquisitively. I did not answer his question as I only stared at the ground at my feet, "Ah, it's alright. You don't need to tell me if you don't want to. It ultimately doesn't matter where we all came from, right?" Gabriel leaned back against the log and laughed to himself again.

I sighed and continued to stare at the ground; I felt so ashamed at myself for running. Was the voice right? Was I really just a coward and I was only saying I would come up with a plan as an excuse to run away from a situation that seemed hopeless? My thoughts were shaken from my head as Gabriel began talking to me once more, "Looks like you've got a lot on your mind. Need to talk it over with someone?"

I shot Gabriel a glare, which he only responded with a sigh, "Guess not. Why divulge personal information with someone you just met, right? But you know, talking about things really eases up the chest, even if it's talking with someone you just met." Gabriel pointed out.

I do not know why, but Gabriel's words stuck to me as I timidly looked at him reclining against the log, "I just… I ran away from a fight I probably could have won while my friends were captured…" I began speaking. I did not know why I suddenly felt like saying everything to this man. For some reason Gabriel emitted a strange calming aura around him, which seemed to make me feel like I could tell him anything.

"Oh-ho! Now you decide to talk!" Gabriel said as he sat back up after I grabbed his attention with my words, "Well, why aren't you going back and fighting then?"

"I… I don't know. I guess I'm a little afraid." I said timidly, still wondering why I was telling Gabriel all of this information.

"Listen here, in order to fight for something you truly want to protect, you cannot be afraid, or at the very least not show any fear." Gabriel began explaining to me with a stern, yet calming voice, "If you simply run away, then there's doubt somewhere in your mind about protecting them. It's up to you to clear all doubt and stand up and fight. Are you afraid that you're weak; that you'll lose? None of that matter if you're trying to protect your friends or something important to you."

I looked at Gabriel as he spoke. He was right as I was putting my own silly fears ahead of my friends. Even back in Empyrean, I put my weakness before my duty and fled from the invaders, which would result in the end of Bakal's life. This was not the time to be constantly worrying about my own faults as I had other people to protect. I stood up triumphantly from the forest floor and looked in the direction I originally came from.

"You're right. I need to save them. Why am I wasting my time here, worrying about my weakness? I need to overcome it in order to save them. Thanks Gabriel, you allowed me to see that." I said with confidence. I do not know what came over me just now; it felt like a newfound power was surging throughout me.

I was about to head off when Gabriel let out a loud laugh, "Ha ha, you're welcome. I didn't expect my words to have such a profound effect on you! By the way, I didn't catch your name."

I turned to look at Gabriel, who was smiling eagerly at me, "I'm Archnir."

"Archnir, huh? Well, guess I'll be seeing you sometime in the future then. I highly doubt this will be the last time we meet." Gabriel stated with satisfaction, "Oh, before you go, there's one more thing I should probably tell you. Be careful around these parts at night. There's an area close to here that's teeming with ghostly horrors at night."

I smiled and nodded, "I'll try to keep that in mind. Thanks Gabriel and I hope that we do meet again someday." I said with a smile as I took off into the forest.

I needed to find where the taus were stationed, as they no doubt had some sort of village or base somewhere within the forest. I jumped high into the trees and ran along their thick branches towards the direction I originally came from. I needed to enter discretely or else they might actually kill everyone.

After running through the branches for a few minutes, I came across a large open area within the forest with several small huts within the clearing. I stopped and looked around and made out several taus walking around the village. No doubt my friends were being held in one of the huts and it was only a matter of time until I figured out which one they were in. I looked below me and saw a single tau standing guard around the village's perimeter, brandishing his large axe, looking for intruders.

I quickly and quietly made my way down to the tau and wrapped my arm around his neck and covered his mouth with my free arm, "Quiet. If you make any noise I'll snap your neck." I whispered to the tau. The beast's neck was extremely muscular, but I had confidence in my strength that I would be able to pull off that kind of feat with no problem.

"You! You're the one who ran away earlier!" The tau exclaimed quietly. To my relief the tau actually listened to me and did not try to struggle against my grip.

"I want my friends back. Where are you keeping them?" I asked sternly as I constantly looked around the area, hoping no more taus would come close and spot me.

"They're in that hut over there." The tau said as he pointed to a hut deeper within the village, "Now unhand me!"

I let the tau go, only to give him a quick jab to the neck, causing him to fall over unconscious. I dragged the tau's limp body into the forest before heading out into the village. Thankfully there were not many taus walking around and I had an easy time actually getting to the hut the tau pointed out. I reached the hut and slowly began walking towards the door after making sure there were no taus in the immediate area. Just as I reached the door, a huge tau burst through the door, with his head and horns pointed directly at me. I quickly jumped out of the way as the tau dashed forward and quickly stopped before colliding with another hut.

Unlike the other taus, this one had black skin and flowing red hair, as all the other taus usually had grey or tan skin with no hair at all. This tau was missing part of his right horn and golden skull ornaments handing from his ears. The tau brandished a huge axe as he turned to face me and snarled, "So you must be the one that escaped earlier. You fools have no right to enter our territory! Not after what happened all those years ago!" The tau angrily roared at me.

I did not quite understand what the tau meant, but he seemed to be a tau of great importance, just by looking at him. I took a quick looked behind me inside the hut he just ran out of and saw a large metal cage with Seria, Grubeck, and Kana inside. I noticed Kana was missing her large gun, guessing that the taus managed to remove it and placed it somewhere within the hut.

"I am the great Tau King Shauta! I will not allow your kind to cause trouble here! The penalty for your trespassing is death!" The tau shouted at me as he charged at me, swinging his axe wildly at me.

Shauta was faster than the taus I encountered earlier, but I still had an easy time evading his blows. Other taus within the village began to gather around, watching the fight between Shauta and me. It seemed they just wanted to watch and let Shauta fight, which was fine by me as it meant less opponents to worry about. I managed to grab Shauta's arm and hurled him to the ground with a loud thud. Shauta got up and merely shook it off. Due to his huge muscle mass, it seemed that I would not be able to take Shauta down as easily as I was able to take down all the other opponents I faced with Grand Flores.

Shauta kept swinging his axe and charging at me whenever he got the chance, trying to impale me on his horns, but I did well in dodging his assaults. I took advantage of any openings I saw and grabbed or hit Shauta whenever the chance arose. It did not help that Shauta's body was so burly that it was tough to land a blow that actually hurt him. Every chance I got, I took a quick glance into the hut where my friends were being kept. They were eagerly watching the fight, hoping I would prevail.

I already landed several blows onto Shauta and not one of his attacks had hit their mark. I could tell I was slowly wearing down Shauta, but our fight was quickly interrupted as flames began appearing around the village. Taus began running frantically around the village, yelling out, "The red witch is here! She has come!"

I quickly deduced that this red witch was none other than Binoche who had come to cause havoc in the village. It was my guess that she was going to try and snuff me out while I fought Shauta. Shauta did not let the burning village detour him from our fight as he continued to attack me, trying to land a hit.

More flames erupted around the village, engulfing huts and turning the entire area into an inferno. Binoche shortly came into view, flying above the huts and looking down upon us. She smiled wickedly at me as she watched me fight Shauta. Much to my horror, I then noticed the hut that my friends were being held in was on fire. In the brief moment of realizing that I needed to rescue my friends now was the moment Shauta actually hit me with his axe, causing a shallow slice across my chest. I jumped back in the nick of time and hurled myself towards the flaming hut. Shauta hurled his axe at me and it caught my scarf, pinning it to the burning hut. I struggled to pull my scarf free, but the axe had pinned it down very tightly, making it not budge an inch when I tried pulling it.

Taking advantage of my helplessness, Shauta lowered his head down so that his horn was pointed directly at me and charged. I quickly jumped in the air, over Shauta as he smashed right into the hut, causing the whole wall to collapse. My scarf was freed and I managed to land back down onto the ground as Shauta emerged from the wreckage and grabbed his axe. The collapsing of the whole wall caused the fire to spread even quicker throughout the hut, throwing Kana and Grubeck into a fit of panic. I saw that Kana noticed her gun had fallen onto the floor right outside the cage and was attempting to grab it. I would have gone over to help her if I could, but Shauta refused to let me pass as he continued his barrage of axe swings.

Binoche hovered overhead, laughing at me as I kept trying to land blows on Shauta, hoping one of them would take him out as time was of the essence at the moment. The fire was spreading quicker throughout the hut and I needed to get there now if I wanted to save anyone.

"Why don't you just stand still?! You're making this much harder than it needs to be!" Shauta roared at me, while he kept swinging his axe at me as I dodged every blow.

"Sorry Shauta, but I have to end this now." I said as I hatched an idea that I hoped would take Shauta out.

I formed a ball of compressed wind within my hands and hurled it at Shauta's feet, hitting him and causing him to fall forward. I followed the attack up with a quick dash forward as I kicked Shauta in the chest with all my might, propelling him into the air. I jumped up into the air and tried wrapping my arms around Shauta's body. Manipulating the wind around us, I flipped us upside and began spinning around as we plummeted towards the ground. Before Shauta could react, I planted him headfirst into the ground with a large explosion of dirt and grass. I jumped out of the dirt cloud and saw Shauta lying down, unconscious and utterly defeated.

A fireball quickly hit me from above and I quickly danced around, causing the flames on me to quickly disappear. I looked up to find none other than Binoche who was still smiling down upon me. Binoche's fire did not bother me that much as I was used to getting burned by Ashcore during our training sessions. Besides, Ashcore's flames felt hotter than Binoche's. I quickly glanced at the burning hut where my friends were being held in and dashed towards it, as rescuing them was first priority.

Binoche cut my path off by creating a huge wall of fire in front of me. I stopped short and glared at Binoche who was smiling at me as she slowly floated down to ground level, "If you want to rescue your friends, you'll have to get through me first! You better hurry, or else you'll all be ash!" Binoche cackled.

"Like I'll let that happen! You're going down!" I yelled at Binoche. I could feel the anger swelling up within me. I had no time to lose, as my friends would all be burned to crisps within a matter of minutes if I did not do anything.

Binoche laughed at my words and hurled a few fireballs at me. I countered and hurled compressed balls of wind at the fireballs, dissipating them. I quickly saw an opening and charged at Binoche and delivered a quick kick to her left side with my left leg. Binoche tumbled across the ground and quickly got back up and pointed her staff at me, launching another fireball. To my surprise, it was not just a fireball she formed, but actually chunk of rock covered in flames. The rock hit me in the chest, pushing me back quite a distance. I flinched from the pain of having it slam into me and feeling it burn my chest, but I grabbed the rock and hurled it away into a hut next to me. I quickly looked at the flames dancing on my torso and patted them, quickly putting them out.

Binoche took to the air once more and smiled and pointed her staff at me, while shooting more flaming rocks. I could not use my wind in order to get rid of the flaming rocks so it left me no choice but to dodge. I kept dodging as Binoche laughed at me, "What's the matter? I thought you were going to take me down! I'm waiting!" Binoche called out.

I was having trouble trying to find an opening, which I could jump up and attack Binoche through the rain of flaming rocks. My mind raced furiously trying to figure out a solution to this problem as I was constantly running out of time. I then suddenly saw Kana fly up in the air above the hut and point her gun directly at Binoche. I felt so relieved that Kana actually managed to get her gun and free herself, which meant Seria and Grubeck were probably safe now as well.

"Hey Binoche! Take this!" Kana called out as she aimed her gun directly at Binoche.

Binoche noticed and tried moving out of the way as Kana fired a large laser directly at her. Binoche's face twisted into an expression of shock and anger as Kana's laser missed Binoche, but hit her staff, causing it to shatter. Seeing this as my chance, I jumped up into the air raised my foot up above Binoche. Before she had a chance to react, I planted my foot right in Binoche's face, sending her straight down to the ground. I stepped off of Binoche's limp body and looked up at Kana who was still hovering above the hut and gave her a thumbs up, signaling the end of the fight.

With extreme haste, Kana flew over to me and gave me a huge hug, crying slightly, "Oh Archnir! I thought you had abandoned us! I was so worried that you would not come back!" Kana wailed.

"Don't worry, I'm here now. Everything is alright." I said as I patted Kana's head gently. I looked around us and saw the flames growing bigger, "Um, we should do something about this fire… I assume Grubeck and Seria made it out safely though."

"Of course they're safe! Also, don't worry, I have this fire under control! Melvin added some cool things to this gun of mine!" Kana said happily as he patted her gun. Kana flew up into the air pointing her gun directly at the flames surrounding the village. Water then shot out of the barrel, putting out the fire that was currently engulfing the village. Kana flew around the entire area, putting out any fires she saw and quickly returned back to me with a large smile on her face, "Pretty handy, huh?"

"I'll say. You're a lifesaver!" I said with a smile. Kana chuckled and blushed a little at my words. Seria and Grubeck timidly emerged from behind one of the huts and approached us.

"About time you saved us! I was about to be turned into a crispy goblin if you took any longer!" Grubeck scolded me.

"Don't worry, don't worry. I was just simply trying to figure out how to rescue you all. It worked out in the end, didn't it?" I said with a small laugh.

"I'm just glad that you returned to us. Both of you saved us." Seria said as her eyes shifted between me and Kana, "I'm so happy that both of you were ready to save us without a moments thought."

Kana blushed even more at Seria's words and I gave Seria a big smile, "Well, now that this is all over with, let's beat it before the rest of the taus return here." I said, as I looked around the area, observing all the damaged huts from Binoche's flames, "Oh, that's right, I did come in here for something, didn't I?"

I walked over to Shauta's limp body and his axe, which had implanted itself into the ground next to his body. With a grunt, I pulled the hefty axe out of the ground and raised it above my head. I swung the axe down and cut Shauta's other horn off. I dropped the axe to the ground and lifted up the horn, which was surprisingly heavy despite only being a few feet long.

"Alright, I'm ready to head back. What about you guys?" I asked as I walked back to the group.

I noticed Seria was over by Binoche's body. Seria quickly got back up and ran over to us, holding a grey orb similar to the one we found Keraha carrying, "What's that? Another strange magical orb?" Grubeck inquired, trying to stand on his tippy toes in order to see the orb.

"Yes. Just as I thought, this thing was corrupting Binoche as well." Seria stated, as she looked it over carefully within her hands. Seria then looked at me and handed it over, "Could you carry this for me? I don't know why, but I feel strange if I hold it for too long… besides the other orb you're carrying doesn't seem to affect you."

"No problem." I said as I took the orb with my free hand and looked it over. It looked exactly identical to the other orb and was emitting that same strange aura that felt so familiar. Perhaps visiting this Siusha person Seria mentioned earlier would shed some light onto what exactly these orbs were. I quickly pocketed the orb and hefted the large horn onto my shoulders.

"Alright, let's be off. It's a long way back to Hendon Myre!" I said as I then took off walking out of the village.

"Finally, I'll actually be able to get some decent rest! This whole adventure has been so exhausting!" Kana complained as she followed close behind.

Seria and Grubeck gave out a small chuckle as they too followed us. This whole journey through Grand Flores was exciting and I could only guess what other adventures Arad had in store for me. If anything, Grand Flores only raised more questions that I needed to answer. Looking back at what happened earlier with my encounter with Gabriel, I realized that I was still too weak mentally and needed to become much stronger. I hoped that in due time I would become strong enough to correct what happened within the past and carve my own path forward. Until that happened, I could only imagine what was in store for me.


	11. Chapter 11: Terrors of the Night

**Chapter 11: Terrors of the Night**

We had all been walking for hours now, retracing each of our steps back to Hendon Myre. As I strolled forward with the horn strapped to my back by some vines Kana found, I gazed up at the ceiling of trees. This forest looked so foreboding when I first entered and now it did not seem as intimidating. It seems despite its quirks, the forest had a relaxing feel to it, but that was probably just because I had never been surrounded by trees before. It was just something about the trees and the sounds of the various wildlife rummaging and making their calls throughout the forest that made me feel at ease; much better than the noises of war and chaos back in Empyrean when Bakal reigned.

As usual, Kana was griping and complaining about all this traveling through the forest. It almost felt like my ears would fall off if I had to listen to her for five more minutes. She never complained this much back in Empyrean, so why now? If I had to guess, it was probably due to the fact that we were out in the wilderness and she was so fond of indoor accommodations. Despite trying to calm her down, Kana just would not listen and continued with her complaints.

I kept trying to tell her only a little more, but she just tuned me out, not wanting to hear another word. Eventually Seria tried speaking with her in her usual soft voice, "Kana, listen." Kana shut her mouth for a moment and looked straight at Seria as she spoke, "Let's walk a little farther so we can find a place to rest, okay? Do you think you can manage? It's not going to be that far, I promise."

I do not know what Seria did, but Kana immediately beamed at Seria's words and nodded enthusiastically in agreement. It honestly made me feel like Seria had some sort of special power to calm people down and it made me a bit jealous of it. Instead of calming people down, I always seemed to rile them up since I was a dragonoid and dragonoids had a bad rep.

Grubeck picked up his pace so that he could catch up to me and walk by my side, "I honestly don't know how you deal with Kana. My ears hurt from all her complaining." Grubeck grumbled.

"Yeah, I know she can be a pain at times, but she's good company. I wouldn't be where I am now if it wasn't for her." I commented with a smile. I did hate Kana's complaining, but she did help me keep my cool in most situations and probably ended up saving my life by bringing me to this time. I owed her my thanks and sucking up all her whining was the least I could do for her.

We shortly found a nice clearing to set up camp for the night. Despite her groaning earlier, Kana was compliant in finding some wood for a fire. Once the fire got started, Seria unpacked our sleeping bags and we all snuggled within them, getting ourselves comfortable. The forest was pleasantly warm with a slight breeze rustling the leaves of the many trees that surrounded us. It was soothing and sleep was about to take us when it was scared away by rustling in the nearby bushes. Kana's ears immediately perked up and faced the direction of the rustling as we all emerged from our sleeping bags, curiously eyeing the bushes as well.

Everyone was giving me the look meaning that I should get out and investigate what exactly was happening within the bushes. Seeing how I was the only fighter here, I did not see a problem in investigating it myself as considering what we have already encountered within the forest, it was probably an enemy. I carefully crept up to the bushes and hastily pulled them apart to see what was lurking behind them. I was in for a surprise myself as I saw two older men jump back and stare at me wide-eyed in fright. One man had a short, round figure, wearing a long white shirt with some sort of green design on the front. He had a big, bushy, brown mustache and wore a small blue cap upon his head. I could not see his eyes as he wore a large pair of glasses with seemingly opaque lens. The other man looked older and had a strange tan and green get-up and wore something that resembled armor. The man had a long white beard and long white hair tied up in what resembled a pony-tail.

The two men stammered and looked at me with complete shock, trying to shield themselves from me. After hearing all this commotion, Seria quickly got up and walked over to me to see what was going on. She saw the two men cowering within my presence and quickly ran over to them. To no surprise, Seria knew who they were as it seemed she knew who everyone in Hendon Myre was. She talked to them for a bit in her usual calming voice until the two men calmed down. Seria then went on to talk about me and who I was, while the two men kept glancing at me, giving me suspicious looks. I could tell that the men did not trust me, but I was a dragonoid after all, no human would ever want to trust me.

After a lengthy explanation on who I was and what we were doing in Grand Flores, the men stopped giving me unsure looks of uneasiness and eventually joined us around our campfire. It seemed Grubeck knew who these men were as well as he immediately greeted them and they greeted back cheerfully. They sat down with us and finally graced me with their names. It seemed the one with the glasses was named Loton, an alchemist from Hendon Myre while the man with the white hair was a blacksmith named Cinda. We all wanted to know why these two old men were here in such a goblin infested forest and Loton willingly divulged all the information we wanted as soon as Seria asked.

"Well, Cinda was in here earlier and he lost his hammer and not just any hammer, it was a hammer made from a special type of rare metal he used to craft his weapons and armor. Not only that, it was a gift from his mentor, the former best blacksmith in all of Arad. I just wanted to come in here with him to help him look for it, that's all." Loton explained, "Besides, this part of the forest is special. I always wanted to investigate this part of the forest and now was my chance."

I raised an eyebrow at Loton's words. How exactly was this forest special? This was the first time I had ever entered a forest, but it did not seem like anything out of the ordinary to me. Loton apparently saw disbelief in my eyes as he continued explaining, "What I mean by special is that people have reported strange beings wandering the forest around these parts, yet nowhere else within the forest. I wanted to investigate them myself."

"Strange beings? Like what? Couldn't they just be goblins or something?" Kana asked inquisitively. Grubeck shot her a sharp look, clearly not liking being labeled under the category of strange beings.

Loton was not too sure himself, but he then relayed to us that these beings were not goblins, nor were they human. As Loton spoke, my mind drifted back to when I encountered Gabriel earlier in the day. Due to everything that had happened earlier with Shauta and Binoche, my mind was in disarray and needed some rest in order to recharge itself, thus I could not remember exactly what he said. What I did remember was that he mentioned something about creatures at night around here; were the beings Loton brought up the same creatures Gabriel told me about?

Cinda got up from his slight rest and began walking out into the forest once more, "It's best I get back to looking. I've got a large order of armor and weapons to create and I can't do so unless I have my hammer." Cinda stated, sounding a bit upset. This hammer must mean a lot to him considering it was a gift from his presumably deceased mentor. Cinda probably already came to the conclusion that finding such a small hammer in a large forest would be so difficult and it seemed as if he was prepared to be out here for as long as it took in order to find this hammer.

I got up myself and placed my hand on Cinda's shoulder, stopping him from progressing any farther. Cinda looked at me with surprised eyes that hid his disappointment. What I was about to do was the least I could do for him. I wanted to show the people of Hendon Myre and all of Arad that I was indeed a dragonoid, but I meant no harm. Surely helping people who were in need would prove to everyone my true intentions. Cinda looked so weary, which suggested that he was out all day searching for this hammer. I had an exhausting day as well, but I was used to having such tiring days when I was back in Empyrean.

"You look weary, why don't you sit down and take a rest? I'll go and find your hammer for you." I said with a smile, trying to show Cinda that I was not your usual violent dragonoid.

Cinda looked confused at my words, as if he was not too sure if he could trust me or not. He glanced back at Seria as if to confirm what I was saying was true. Cinda returned his stare back to me with now thankful eyes, "Thanks Archnir, I appreciate it. Helping out an old man like me; you're quite thoughtful." Cinda said as he walked back over to the campfire and sat down on a log he pulled up for himself earlier, "I'm going to have to repay you somehow when we arrive back in Hendon Myre."

I shook my head as I did not need any payment to do this. As long as he knew I was not dangerous and spread the word, then that was all I could ever ask for. As I began walking out into the forest I was stopped as well by Loton clearing his throat. I halted as he walked up to me and stopped by my side, "If you don't mind, I would like to come with you. I don't mind searching for the hammer, but there's also something I'd like to look at." Loton announced. He looked me over and a satisfied grin appeared on his face, "You look pretty strong so you'll be able to protect me from all the nasty creatures within here at night, won't you?"

I sighed and allowed Loton to come with me. I still was not too sure on his agenda within this forest as he still wanted to research these mysterious strange beings. I had a feeling that I did not want to meet up with these strange beings, but knowing my luck, it was not a choice.

We wandered off into the forest, making sure that the light from the campfire was still in view to make sure that we would not get lost. As we began rummaging through the bushes, hoping to find Cinda's hammer, Loton began telling me about himself. He relayed to me that he was a proud scientist in Hendon Myre and from the way he talked, it sounded as if he was the best scientist in all of Arad. He had an interesting quirk of getting excited over little bits of information as he talked. He mentioned something about researching the biological and neurological differences between humans and goblins and I had to end up slowing him down as he kept babbling on so quickly with excitement that I could not understand a word he was saying. He clearly loved being a scientist and almost everything fascinated him. Throughout the entire conversation I had an uneasy feeling that Loton was going to ask to vivisect me or perform strange experiments on me in order to study dragonoids, but thankfully no such proposes were made.

After searching for what was probably only thirty minutes, but felt like hours, I finally came across what I believed was Cinda's lost hammer. Loton himself seemed excited that I finally managed to find what was lost and I as I reached down to grab it, a hand suddenly shot out of the ground next to the hammer. Loton yelped and jumped backwards while I too flinched, shocked by what I was seeing before my very eyes. Soon enough a humanoid figure emerged from the ground and the entire area began to smell like decay. The figure's pale skin was flaking and peeling off its rotting body as well as large gaping wounds all over the figure, revealing the intricate piles of organs slowly decaying away within this creature's body. I was taken aback, never having witnessed such a sight before in my life. Loton stumbled back with me as he fell down onto the ground, lying in a pool of his own sweat and fear. No doubt if I could see his eyes behind those thick glasses of his, they would be wide open in terror.

This undead monster slowly stumbled towards us, moaning softly as it tried to reach out towards us with its rotting hands. Despite the shock of seeing such an unholy horror, I quickly brought my foot up and kicked it squarely in the chest, sending it flying backwards and onto the ground with a loud thud. Without hesitation, I ran up to the being and swiftly brought my fist down onto the creature's skull. Not to my surprise, the decay on the figure's body had already taken its toll and thus its head easily caved in on itself as my fist came in contact with it. The figure was not getting up anymore after a moment of silence, which meant that my blow finally vanquished whatever creature it was. I removed my fist and wiped off the gunk from the being's head onto some nearby leaves, hoping my hand would not being infected and end up falling off itself.

I was shocked to see that Loton had recomposed himself and was teetering over the creature's body, looking it over thoroughly. I guessed Loton was somewhat used to seeing strange occurrences like this as it apparently it did not bother him now. The smell seemed to not bother him either as he overlooked the figure, rubbing his mustache slightly.

"That was your first time witnessing a creature such as this, right?" Loton asked as he paced around the being's body. He took a quick glance at me and smiled while continuing his talk, as if he could already read what was on my mind, "This strange creature here is a zombie, a being that was formally living but due to magic or unknown circumstances, it comes back to life as a soulless entity with only the desire to devour the flesh of the living. I've heard rumors of some zombies wandering around this area of Grand Flores, which is the real reason I went out here with Cinda. I wanted to investigate these zombies." Loton rubbed his mustache vigorously as he went on about the zombie; it was quite evident that he was excited about subject matters such as these.

"Let me guess, you want to study why these so called zombies are rising from their graves out here in the forest, right?" I asked as Loton began slowly nodding his head even before I managed to finish my sentence. I had never seen a zombie before and I would be lying if I were to say that I was not interested in what was causing these beings to rise up form their graves. I was also a bit worried since everyone was sleeping around here tonight and I sure did not want one of these zombies to come over and attack us in our sleep.

Loton then politely told me to sit down and wait as he took off the small backpack he was carrying and took some tools out of it. Since the sun was almost set, the forest was already covered in a menacing blanket of darkness so I could not tell what Loton had taken out or what he was doing to the zombie, but whatever he was doing, it was probably something I would not be able to understand even if I tried. I was never good with science or machines for that matter since everything I tinkered with back in Empyrean seemed to just fall apart or not work at all.

Loton brought what seemed to be a small flashlight with him and used it to help his work, making it the second light source in the forest next to the campfire, which was already becoming obscured by the thicket surrounding us. Loton worked silently by himself as I patiently waited. I wanted to head back to the campfire, but I did not want to leave Loton out here alone, especially after what just happened not too long ago. I was sure if a zombie had stumbled upon the campsite, Kana would have been the first to fly over here screaming her head off.

Loton uttered a loud gasp and I immediately rushed over to him, questioning if something was dreadfully wrong. Loton looked as if he was taken aback, but I could not quite piece together why as the body and the area around it looked pretty much the same as earlier with the exception of the small pile of tools next to Loton. I asked Loton what he had found in a serious, concerning tone and Loton began to speak, "Archnir… this body here… it's the body of an elf! Or, at least, it used to be a body of an elf before it died." Loton's speech was a bit fast as he slurred his words together. As much as he would have wanted to hide it, I could hear shock within his troubled voice.

"I'm sure you're aware of the great fire that took place here long ago; the great mysterious fire that claimed the lives of almost all the elves. It seems as if these zombies are the remains of the elves that were engulfed within those flames! But something is wrong here… it seems a strange, yet powerful magic is causing all these zombies to come up out of the ground." Loton pondered, still speaking as quickly as he could. Loton scooped up all his tools and poured them into his bag as he stood up. He looked down at the body once more and sighed.

"I'm definitely going to have to study more into this subject matter. Something very strange is going on here and I'm going to get to the bottom of it! I must get to my lab back in Hendon Myre first thing tomorrow so I can begin conducting my research!" Loton proclaimed as all shock seemed to have finally left his voice. I still was not quite sure what Loton meant by strange as just seeing the dead up and walking was strange enough for me. I would have just left the explanation at just some sort of magic caused them to appear, but Loton definitely wanted to investigate more into this matter and I did not plan on stopping him.

A shrill scream disturbed our thoughts as we both quickly turned towards the direction of the scream; it was none other from our campfire. I quickly set off towards the campfire as Loton ran as fast as his legs could carry him in an attempt to catch up to me. That scream definitely came from Kana and if I had to guess, it was because some more of these zombies had appeared near there.

Sure enough as I reached the camp, a few zombies had collapsed on the ground, motionless and with several large sections of their bodies missing. A herd of these zombies slowly dragged themselves towards my group of friends before me as Kana was ahead of the group, smoke streaming from the muzzle of her gun. Terror was twisted across everyone's faces as they looked at the zombies dead-on. Their frightened faces turned towards me as soon as they detected my presence behind them. Immediately Grubeck came crawling over to me, bumbling on about not wanting to die, his words an incoherent mess due to his fear.

"Just in time! I can't take all of these on by myself so come on and help me out, will you?" Kana called out to me. Despite the fear in her voice there was also confidence; confidence in me, believing that together we would be able to take all these unholy terrors down. With no need for words, I boldly stepped in front of everyone and dove headfirst into the slowly approaching heard of zombies.

The zombies were slow and were not bright, making it fairly easy to take them down, the only problem lying in the sheer number of them swarming the area. I had to crush the skull of each individual zombie as I found out just knocking them around did not seem to faze them much. It only seemed after having their heads destroyed they would cease their movements. Even with Kana and I doing our best to take the zombies down there seemed to be no end to them. Seria and the rest cowered behind us, trying to keep their distance from the fighting while constantly checking around them in order to make sure no zombies were coming from the other directions.

The leaves on the nearby trees then began to frost over and the temperature began dropping rapidly. Curious by this phenomenon, I peered into the oncoming horde of zombies and saw on zombie in particular that stood out. Its skin was tinted a light blue instead of the usual sickly white and it had ice particles dangling from several parts of its body. My thoughts first arrived to the fact that it was some sort of zombie that knew ice magic, but I was not too sure until a voice behind me perked up.

"It's Ghoulgish! I've heard about a strange undead being whose heart is so distant and cold that its body in turn generated a frozen air!" Cinda yelled out, "I only thought of it to being a myth! Just what exactly is going on?" Cinda seemed both very confused and frightened on this matter. I still did not understand what the big deal about this was and disregarded it as some sort of affair in magic, but according to everyone around me, it was a rather big deal.

I did notice the sudden drop in temperature, but I would not let that stop me. As cold as Keraha's icy aura, but it was still tolerable by my standards. I fought through the crowd of zombies in order to come face to face with the one Cinda named Ghoulguish. I tried my best at attacking the frozen zombie, but its skin was strangely sturdier than the rest. Ghoulguish was a bit faster than the others, but it was nowhere near me in terms of speed, which allowed me to easily dodge its grasping hands and land blows quickly. The accursed creature would not go down no matter how many hits it took as time ran out for us. The zombie horde began creeping every closer to everyone else and Kana could only take down so many before her gun needed to charge up.

The air around Ghoulguish was bitter cold, making it slightly more difficult to move as well as toughening up Ghoulguish's skin so my punches and kicks were not doing as much damage as they should have been doing. I easily picked up and hurled Ghoulguish dozens of times, but nothing seemed to take the foul being down for good. My fears worsened as zombies began marching towards my friends from all angles, surrounding them completely. Even with my skills, there was no way I could single-handedly take down this many zombies without anyone getting hurt. I desperately fought against Ghoulguish, trying to take it and as many zombies as I could down, but the swarm never seemed to end. Despair began to creep into the eyes of everyone as the zombies closed in. Was this really the end of everything? Is there really no way to take down all these zombies and save everyone? As I too was beginning to despair, I heard a familiar yell.

A huge portion of the horde of zombies immediately toppled over onto the ground, motionless. There standing above them all was none other than Pungjin, "I was wondering what was taking you so long to return." Pungjin stated with a sly smile.

I was happy to see Pungjin here as he could help us take down all these zombies. With someone of his skill level here, we might actually be able to survive the night. Pungjin saw the frost covering my arms and legs from my battle with Ghoulguish and immediately rushed in and smashed Ghoulguish's head with his fist, breaking it apart. Pungjin moved faster than even me with the wind at my disposal and hit the creature with a blow at least five times harder. It seemed Pungjin had not taught me everything about strength and fighting.

Pungjin looked at me and nodded his head, "While you stand there gawking at my strength, you could help take down the rest and save your friends." Pungjin noted. I snapped back to reality and quickly turned around and dove headfirst into the mass of zombies, destroying them with my grabs and punches while Pungjin joined in with me.

With Pungjin's help, the zombies did not stand a chance and were soon all vanquished. The only thing that remained of them was mounds of decaying corpses left behind. Everyone was exhausted after experiencing such a fright and could only muster enough strength to walk just far enough so that the stench of the zombie corpses could not reach us. Everyone was amazed by my skills as a fighter and kept thanking me as well as thanking both Kana and Pungjin. We started another fire and all sat down, almost everyone falling asleep as soon as we set up everything. Pungjin decided to stay awake in order to make sure no more zombies would be after us, I would have done that job, but Pungjin insisted that I get some sleep.

Feeling a bit restless, I walked over to Pungjin who was standing vigilantly by us and leaned against a nearby tree with a long sigh. I wanted to show my thanks to Pungjin for coming when he did. If he had not, no doubt we would not all be alive at the moment, "Thanks for coming earlier. You really saved all of us." I admitted, feeling a little silly for thanking someone. It was not really my nature to thank someone; I blamed it all on stupid dragonoid pride.

"It was a good thing I came out here when I did. You were gone longer than I anticipated and I began to worry so I figured I would come in and see if something had happened. That pot-headed man, Manjin, right outside Grand Flores was keeping a sharp eye out for anyone exiting the forest and claimed nobody had left the forest since you entered." Pungjin replied with his voice being as stern as ever, "It is only natural for a master to worry about his disciple, is it not?" Pungjin looked at me with thoughtful eyes.

"I guess so." I said as I looked down at the ground, feeling a bit touched that someone actually cared about my well-being. It had been so long since someone showed care and compassion towards me. It was a rare for any of my brothers to show any emotion besides pity and frustration towards me so Pungjin's thoughts were touching, "Ah, that's right. I managed to get this for you…" I began pulling Shauta's large horn off my back when Pungjin held out his hand to stop me.

"Don't worry about that now, just get some rest. You've been fighting hard these past few days in this forest and deserve some sleep without worry." Pungjin said with a slight nod.

I removed my hands from the horn attached to my back and nodded. There was nothing else I had to say to Pungjin as I could not think of any words that would express how grateful I was that he arrived and helped take care of the zombies. I walked back over to where everyone else lay and decided to try and get some much-needed sleep. I believed that Pungjin was not only my mentor now, but my friend due to his earlier actions. All these people here were my friends now, which dwarfed the number of friends back in my time. I then slowly began to wonder if I really was meant to be in this time period rather than the other one.


End file.
